Smite of the Koopalings
by Yami Bakura's Wife
Summary: Bowser finally finds someone he loves and they want to get married. The only problem is..she hates his children, and will do anything to get rid of them. Rated for later language...be nice with reviews people!
1. MARRIED? AHHHH!

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Jeshi: Yay! A new story!! ^-^

Larry: O_O…You mean I'm back again?!

Jeshi: *nods* ^-^ Hai!

Larry: O_o??….

Jeshi: _ It's Japanese for 'yes'…

Larry: O_O..oh…^_^ Okay, she doesn't own anything from Mario…right? O_o?

Jeshi: u.u..sadly enough, it is true…*sniff sniff*…  
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Bowser was going out again. His children had never before seen him so nervous. He had combed his hair (Not that he actually had much to comb) over 15 times that night.

The koopalings watched him curiously…well, more like the younger koopalings watched him curiously, and seemed quite confused; As for the likes of the older siblings, Ludwig and Lemmy just stood around intently eyeing their very timid father in a composed manner. As for Roy, he just stood around completely bored-looking and yawned. Larry had suddenly come up to Lemmy and started tugging at his arm.

"What is Dad so worried about? Is he looking for something?" Larry asked, tilting his head to the side.

Lemmy stared down at him. Larry and his questions, at least it was better than Morton asking him it. But how was he going to explain this to Larry? He knew the question was coming, just by the look on Larry's face about 5 minutes ago, just staring at him with that gesture of the enquiring child. The bad thing was that he knew that Larry also wouldn't leave without an answer, and it had to be an answer that he understood at that!

"Well….Dad is…um…going out for a bit, Larry," Lemmy replied, lightly kicking at the ground. When he looked back at Larry, he had an even more of a puzzled look on his face.

"But…then why aren't we going? And why isn't he taking any troopas or bob-ombs or anything like that with him!?" Larry then asked. Lemmy stood there, blank look on his face, and not knowing what to do. Just as he opened his mouth to make an attempt to answer his little brother's question, Ludwig cut in.

"There is a lady that Dad likes, Larry. So he wants to be really nice to her so that she will like him back, and the two of them are going out to have fun tonight while we stay at home, and why?" Ludwig added the 'and why?' part as Larry opened his mouth to ask 'why' at that time, "because they really do not want to have children running around tormenting them in any way. They want peace and quiet so that they can talk without having to yell. That and they will be out past bedtime anyway." He smiled quite smugly at Larry.

Larry pondered on this for a minute or so, then looked back up at Ludwig with a smile and answered, "Ooooh, okay!" Lemmy smiled too and patted Larry on the head.

"Yeah, you know how Dad likes us, right? Well, this lady he likes, he likes her the same, only more so…..in a different type of 'like'…a special 'like'…" he said. Larry suddenly froze, horror filled his eyes. He gazed back up at the two of them and with a terrified voice, asked, "You mean…Dad likes this lady better than us?!!?!"

Lemmy blinked at Larry. Ludwig clapped a hand to his forehead and groaned, while Larry seemed to be on the verge of tears.

"No, no no no!! Did I say that, Larry? Of course not! Dad likes us more, but he likes this lady too!!" Lemmy tried to cover it up, or at least 'put a bandage' on the problem he had created.

"But you just said that-" Larry started.

"No, Larry. Dad does not like this lady better than us. What Lemmy means to say is that there is a special 'like' that Dad has for this woman, which the more appropriate term for it is 'love', as for us, he loves us too, but in a family way, because we are his children. But, when we say that he 'loves' this woman, that kind of love is a companionship kind of love, where you find someone you could even consider marrying someday if you really, truly and deeply love someone…."Ludwig yet again cut in, in hopes of saving Lemmy and saving himself the trouble to keep Larry from getting over excited about something so trivial, "that didn't make any sense to you, whatsoever, did it?" Larry stared back up at him, wide-eyed and nodded silently. Lemmy stood there laughing nervously, when Iggy ran up to him.

"Hey, Lemmy, I'll race you to the dungeons!" He cried excitedly. Lemmy gave a daring look to him and answered, "Ha! You're on.." and then, after balancing himself on the top of his ball, took off rolling after Iggy who had already made a start on the stairs, jumping down two at a time. Ludwig watched them leave, then shook his head.

"Ludwig!!!" came Wendy's voice. Ludwig turned to face Wendy, Larry and Morton standing in front of him. (Why was Morton there? Why WOULDN'T he be? Lol)

"Yes, what is it?" Ludwig asked them.

"Larry tells me that Daddy is going out tonight with a lady that he likes," Wendy said shortly. Ludwig nodded, Wendy's eyes grew wide.

"Really!?!? Ooooh!! Does that mean that Daddy likes her, and that they'll love each other forever and ever and ever??? And will she be pretty??" She asked ecstatically, jumping up and down.

"I don't know, Wendy," Ludwig answered, "all I do know is that Dad is really worried about meeting her right now." He knew that Wendy obviously wasn't paying attention, because she had suddenly taken off in search of Bowser, in hopes of interrogating him. On her way out the one door, she ran into him. Bowser helped her up before she fell backwards.

"Wendy, watch where you're going, you're going to hurt yourself or something.." he said. She looked up and smiled.

"Daddy, who is the lady you're going to see tonight????" she asked him excitedly. Bowser had gone wide-eyed and stared down at his daughter.

"Who told you that?" he asked her. She looked back at Ludwig, who seemed to try to hide his face behind his hands when their dad looked up at him. He then smiled, and lowered his voice.

"Actually, Wendy…" he started. He peered out the window, then turned back to Wendy, "you'll all get to meet her in just a few seconds." Just as Wendy was going to ask what he had meant, the door began to knock. Bowser opened up the door, and invited the other koopa lady inside the castle.

Wendy stared up at her. She too, was a koopa, and had the resemblance of Bowser, though she had curly dark red hair. Her eyes were a dark and cold grey and had dark crimson lips. She smiled sweetly and in a friendly way, but she seemed cold, like a darkness was floating around her.

" KIDS! GET OUT HERE NOW!!" Bowser suddenly yelled. Within seconds, the seven koopalings scrambled out into the main entrance hall and around their father. Bowser smiled at them.

"As you all know, I've been going out for some time. But never once did you get to see the lady I've been leaving with. So tonight, she came just to see you, before we went out again," he said. The seven children stared up at her, she smiled back at them.

"Her name is Melinda," Bowser said, taking her hand. He then pointed towards Ludwig, "Melinda, this is my oldest son, Ludwig."

"Oh, and such a handsome young man he is, like his father, no doubt," she replied, and played around with his hair.

" It is very nice to meet you, ma'am," Ludwig said, slightly smiling at her.

" And so polite too!" she added.

" And there is Lemmy," Bowser said, pointing to Lemmy next. She gave out a high pitched giggle when she saw him.

" Oh!! He's got such perfect balance, such grace!" she said while watching Lemmy, who just stood there on his ball, not moving, but staring up at Melinda with a questionable look on his face. Roy snorted and rolled his eyes at Lemmy. Melinda looked over at Roy, and pinched his cheeks.

" Awww, I see who our tough man is! Just like his father also, so strong and handsome himself!"

" Yes, that's Roy, Melinda," Bowser said. She laughed then looked at Iggy.

" Oh!! ANOTHER handsome man!! And he's got glasses too," she played with his hair also. Iggy introduced himself, and she hugged him, then gasped when she saw Wendy, "oooooh!!! What a DARLING little girl you have, Bowser!" Wendy smiled widely as her brothers all rolled their eyes. Perfect, this was JUST the attention that Wendy always wanted.

"Oh, she's so pretty, look at that adorable bow on her head, and she looks like an absolute DOLL in jewellery!" Melinda exclaimed, taking Wendy's head in her hand and examining her eyes. As for Wendy, all this time she'd kept a big smile on her face. It was maybe five minutes later when Melinda stopped going about how adorable Wendy looked and she realised there were two koopalings she'd never complimented yet. She looked over at Morton and giggled.

"Oh, who is this?" she asked with a big smile. Morton smiled back, and when he went to open his mouth to reply, he saw out of the corner of his eye Bowser shaking his head violently at him.

"Morton.." Bowser warned. Morton shut his mouth right away as he was told, and smiled at Melinda, who just looked at him oddly.

"Aww, but Bowser, he's so adorable and well behaved..and so quiet too!!" she said smiling again. Morton smiled very sweetly yet mockingly.

"I am, ma'am," he answered sweetly. His siblings shot him dirty looks, while Bowser gave him a stern gaze himself.

"Morton! Don't push it…" Bowser muttered. Melinda pet Morton's head and carried on to Larry.

"Awww, and this is?" she asked, turning her head back to Bowser.

"That would be my youngest son, Larry," he replied, smiling at her. She turned back to Larry and pinched his cheeks.

"Oh!! The youngest is he? Aww, and he's sooo lucky to have older siblings to look up to. And I bet they get a lot of respect from you, don't they, little Larry?" she asked him. Larry nodded and replied sarcastically, "Yes, they are my role models." Then he grinned widely. Melinda hugged him and laughed.

"Oh, he is so charming too!!" she cried. She looked over the seven children and then turned to Bowser, " they are all such wonderful children, how do you live with such adorable creatures swarming around you? Doesn't it hurt you when you have to leave them?"

Bowser shook his head, smiling, "Yes, indeed it does." She laughed and hugged Bowser, who hugged her back. The seven koopalings all gave each other sickening looks.

"Oh please…can it with the mushy stuff already," Roy muttered. Bowser then turned to his children.

" Well, we are going now. All of you behave, and stay out of trouble!" He said. He opened the door, and escorted Melinda out. Melinda waved softly and said good-bye to the koopalings, and then she and Bowser had left. Ludwig walked up and checked to make sure the door was closed, then sighed.

"Anything wrong, Ludwig?" Iggy asked him.

"No, nothing at all…YET.." Ludwig said, staring up at the ceiling, folding his hands together behind his back.

"What does he mean, 'yet?'" Larry asked Wendy, who was looking quite dreamy-like at this time. Larry eyed her curiously and asked, "Wendy?? What's the matter with you?" She giggled.

"Isn't it romantic? Daddy and the lady like each other!! And her name is Melinda…it's such a pretty name…" she said with a deep sigh. Roy glared at her.

"Yeah? Well, I think this mushy stuff is stupid!" he said.

"Yeah, that's YOUR opinion!! Not that it even counts!!" Wendy shot back.

"And what makes you think YOURS does?!" Roy said hotly.

" Well?! Um..What makes you think that YOURS does?!?!" She threw back at him.

"Roy! Leave Wendy alone, it's her opinion, let her have it.." Ludwig said, holding his head as though he had a headache, while giving Roy a stern look. Roy glared fiercely at Ludwig.

"NO way!! I ain't backin' down from my own little sister!!!" Roy yelled.

"You better if you know what's good for you!!!!!" Wendy yelled at Roy.

"Oh yeah? Whadda ya gonna do?! Call for 'Daddy?!' Well, guess what?! Daddy ain't here!!!!" Roy teased. Wendy now looked quite appalled, and started sucking up a lot of air. She went to let out a scream, but Larry dove on her and cupped his hands over her mouth. It worked…sorta, she turned around and threw Larry almost halfway across the room, then stomped around screaming about random things that she hated, including Roy in at least six times.

It was at this time that Lemmy had completely lost his balance on his ball and fell to the floor; Roy, rather than bothering Wendy now, directed his attention to laughing at Lemmy, who glared back at him, and the war of insults began between the two.

"Hahaha! Stupid circus clown fell off his ball!!" Roy laughed.

" 'Hahaha' at least I'm not a bald dummy like you!!" Lemmy shot at him.

" Ha, I'll show you a dummy, ya little turd!" he yelled.

"Who are you calling a turd, you stupid…NERD!" Lemmy yelled back.

"Hey, you wanna call someone a nerd? Look over at Ludwig!" Roy crossed his arms and gave Lemmy a smug look.

"You want to call someone a turd?! Look in the mirror!!!!" Lemmy said coolly. He could tell now that Roy was ready to explode.

"WHAT!??!!? HOW 'BOUT I BEAT THE CRAP OUTTA YA, HOW'D YA LIKE THAT?!!?!" Roy screamed at him. Lemmy jumped up from the ground, grabbed his ball and gave Roy a mischievous grin. 

"Maybe THAT'S why you 'beat the crap' out of everyone, Roy!! Because you don't want to be alone in the universe!!!!" Before Roy could grab a hold of him, Lemmy was back on his ball and rolling down a long dark corridor laughing insanely, all the while Roy tried to run after him, screaming out pointless insults in fury.

Iggy watched as the two of his older brothers ran away, then turned back to Ludwig, who seemed as though he was trying to get rid of a migraine because of the way he was now massaging the temples of his head.

"Soooo…hehehe…um…what about Melinda?" Iggy asked nervously, trying to change the subject. Wendy suddenly calmed down, took big deep breaths slowly and walked over to Iggy and Ludwig.

"I like her…"she gasped for air, "she's really nice, and really pretty, and she has…a really pretty name." Morton crossed his arms and pouted.

" I wasn't even allowed to say anything!!" He whined. Iggy rolled his eyes.

"Gee, I wonder WHY!?" He said sarcastically. Morton gave him a dirty look.

" What?! It wasn't like I was going to blab on forever or anything!!" he said defensively, "because unlike some people, I know when to shut up!! Lots of people don't, you know that? But I DO know that, I know how annoying it is! And you just feel like screaming, 'SHUT UP ALREADY!!' but they won't?! THAT is VERY annoying, and I hate it, that's why you all shouldn't be mad at me, because I know when to-"

"SHUT UP!!!" the remaining four koopalings shouted at him. He jumped, startled that the three of his brothers and his sister yelled at him in unison. Ludwig shook his head.

"Morton…why don't you go and see if Roy has killed Lemmy yet?" he suggested to Morton, who was still pouting. At the sound of being requested to do something rather than 'shut up', Morton brightened up and cruised down the corridor that his older brothers had just recently taken.

"Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrighto!!!" he cried happily, and pushed over any koopa troopas that wandered around aimlessly.

" Wow…" Iggy said, wide-eyed, "good thinking, Ludwig!"

"Yes…as usual, right?" Ludwig replied. He then smiled and savoured every little second of silence that was given to him at that moment. That is until he heard Lemmy's maniacal laughter again and Roy's stupid insults down the corridor returning to them…and then there was Morton who seemed to be announcing a play-by-play at a race track.

As Lemmy came back through the corridor, his ball hit a goomba walking by, sending him flying and crashing face first into the ground. Roy then dove on Lemmy and started beating on his head, still yelling at him. Morton came around holding Kamek's wand like a microphone.

"And he's wiped out!! Down for the count! 'Rrrroy the Repulsive Annihilator' has tackled him and is now shouting inappropriate words for little children!! WHILE he is clobbering his opponent!! WOW, what a match, folks!!" 

Ludwig groaned loudly and started walking around muttering to himself. Iggy, Wendy and Larry stood around watching Roy beat up on Lemmy, and listening to Morton at the same time. For some reason, it seemed to be interesting this time. Then Kamek had ran down the hallway and grabbed his broomstick and glared angrily at Morton.

"Hey!!! Give me back my wand!!" he tried to snatch it out of Morton's hand, but Morton turned away. Kamek got even more furious, and went to hit Morton with the broomstick (though he knew that there'd be hell to pay after when Bowser found out…) but Morton kept jumping away, dodging the broom.

"And it seems like the announcer is under attack!! Kamek the Magikoopa seems a little angry right now, and about what? No body knows! It could be anything, such as the sky is blue, donuts are fattening, or the simple fact that I have his wand and am using it as a microphone! It could be anything, and WHOOSH!!" he dodged another swing, "he swings to the left, and MISSES terribly! And then WHOOSH!! A swing to the right, awww, try again, Kamek, you'll get him sometime! And WHOOSH!! Another miss!! Should the old Magikoopa just retire once and for all, ladies and gentlemen, or should he continue to make a feeble attempt at knocking me out cold with a magic-less broom?! We will never know!!" Morton cried, then ran around the room in laps, Kamek chasing him.

"You little hooligan!!" Kamek yelled at him.

Kamek tried to chase Morton around the room, but Morton was obviously too fast for him. Kamek finally had blown a fuse, hopped onto his broom (the supposed 'magic-less' as Morton put it) and started chasing Morton again, only it was much easier to keep up with him now.

"And now it looks as though Kamek has brought in a sssssecret weapon! His broom does not seem to be 'non-magical' but-AAAAACCCCKKK!!" Morton yelled as Kamek rammed into him. Morton went sprawling to the floor, dropping the wand. Kamek stopped his broom, got off and retrieved his wand. He then glared angrily at the koopalings.

"I'm out of here, and I don't now if you'll all see me again!!" he threatened. The koopalings (besides Lemmy and Roy of course) stared at Kamek for just a little over three seconds, then burst out laughing.

"Kamek, you're funny!!" Wendy laughed. Kamek continued glaring at them.

"Well, I'm leaving too..and well, I don't know when I'll be back!!" Kamek yelled.

"So, you've changed you mind, have you?" Ludwig teased.

"I'm just going out for a cruise on my broom," Kamek huffed angrily. 

"I think he's running away…" said Larry. Kamek stomped his foot in a hissy fit.

"I am NOT running away from anything!!" He pouted.

"Naw, he's just old and cranky," Iggy added.

"I'm not cranky!! And who are you calling 'old'?!" Kamek snapped. He got back on his broom and flew out one of the open windows and into the night.

Ludwig shook his head slowly and groaned again. 

"I hope that Dad is having a more peaceful night than we are," he said to himself, then went to rescue the almost unconscious Lemmy who was still being beaten to a bloody pulp by Roy.

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Meanwhile, Bowser and Melinda had walked for some time. They never really wanted to do anything that night, but walk around and talk. Either way, it was nice to be out, and they loved being with each other. (a/n: O_O WOW…don't worry, I know that Bowser really isn't like that…^-^ But it could happen, right?lol) Of course all Melinda really talked about is how Bowser's children were absolutely adorable.

They sat down by a lake somewhere. They peered into the water, and smiled when they saw the other's reflection. It was such a nice night…yes…nice indeed…(a/n: ^-^ Bowser, the mighty king of the koopas is NICE…^-^ lol) Bowser hugged her, she hugged him back. He pecked her on the cheek and they watched a bug fall into the edge of the lake and drown. They both laughed. (a/n: yes, it was that hilarious…and what? Did you expect them to watch the moonlight reflect off in the lake romantically? HA! It's STILL Bowser we're talking about…maybe later…^-6)

"It's such a nice night, isn't it?" Melinda asked. Bowser smiled and nodded…though he honestly couldn't think of something nice to say about night. They continued on with small talk about anything that popped up, when finally Bowser turned to Melinda, and stared at her dark grey eyes.

" Hey, I have got something to ask you," he said…

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It was long after when Bowser and Melinda had returned to the castle. By then, the younger koopalings such as Larry and Morton were bobbing off to sleep every few minutes, only to jump back awake. Wendy walked around and pouted that their father was not back yet. As for Ludwig, he had immersed himself in a book when Lemmy crawled by him, still holding an ice pack over his eye from earlier that night.

"So…"he started, "what do you think Dad is probably doing right now?" Ludwig slightly lowered the book so he could peer over at his brother, then grinned widely.

"My my, technology today is quite astounding," he replied, pretending to ignore Lemmy. Before Lemmy could argue with him, they heard a loud groan from Wendy.

"When is Daddy coming home!?" she demanded, stomping her feet furiously.

"He wants time alone, Wendy. Besides, who would want to come home to you anyway?" Iggy answered teasingly. She growled viciously at him and pushed him against a large, wooden cupboard. One of the doors opened and a bat flew out of it and up towards the ceiling.

"Geez, Wendy. You don't have to be such a **bat** about it," Lemmy said At the sound of the bad joke, the koopalings burst out laughing (except for Wendy of course), even Ludwig couldn't help but give a weak smile. As for Wendy though, she had gotten so angry that she started screaming and ranting again (which brought her brothers' hands to their ears), parading around the room as she had done so before.

It was then that the door opened, and inside stepped Bowser…and Melinda. Bowser gave a call to let them know he was home, and soon his children had again surrounded them. Wendy had gotten extremely impatient (not that she wasn't in the first place) that she pushed her way rudely through her brothers and hugged Bowser. It had actually scared Bowser for a second, for he thought that she was going to ask him for money to go on a shopping spree or something. (a/n: heheh…^-^;; One of Bowser's worst nightmares I presume? Lol Ahh, the joys of being a father…hehehe…my own dad should know…*evil grins*)

"So..Guess what?" Bowser said, a smiling creeping onto his face, "Melinda and I are going to get married."

Everyone seemed to freeze then. Wide eyes appeared everywhere, even Wendy stood wide-eyed in mid-hug. They all stared at Bowser, then at Melinda. Married? And the koopalings were just introduced to her that night too…they barely knew each other, and their dad was going to marry this woman?

The koopalings all looked at each other, wide-eyed and speechless. Larry and Morton were no longer struggling to stay awake, they must have been one of the only really awake ones there. They all knew there also that it was such incredible news, seeing as how Ludwig himself couldn't find anything to say, but stare completely shocked at his father and Melinda. Bowser then arched an eyebrow.

"What? Isn't that great?" he asked them, giving them odd looks. Lemmy (yes, the one with the one black eye now…poor him…T_T J ), still wide-eyed just nodded absentmindedly. Bowser smiled slightly at Lemmy.

"See? Why can't you all just be like Lemmy?" he said more confidently, pointing at Lemmy. Roy shook himself out of the shocked state and punched Lemmy in the cheek.

"No, Dad you got it wrong, see? He's a bobble-head now, you know Lemmy, right?" Roy said smiling, and punched Lemmy in the cheek again.

"Ow! Hey, stop it…" Lemmy glared at Roy.

"Well… that… that's great… Dad.." Ludwig shook himself out a bit too. That was the best he could find to say to his dad at that time. He looked up at Melinda and smiled, "Yeah, that's… that's going to be cool, you as our step mom and all. That will be quite nice.." Melinda smiled sweetly again at him.

"Aww, that's great. I just couldn't help but to say 'yes'. The seven of you are adorable, and then your dad here is just a big sweetheart himself," she hugged Bowser, and glanced at the other koopalings. She then took her interest in Wendy, who was still holding onto Bowser herself. She was staring up at the two of them wide-eyed still herself.

"I.. I… um…" she started, still gazing up at them. She then too, smiled at Melinda and said, "It's about time. I don't like living with only my stupid brothers.."

Melinda gave another giggle, while Wendy's brothers gave her odd looks. She stuck her tongue out at them and walked off to the side.

"Melinda has no place to go at this time, so tomorrow she'll be moving whatever she has in here with her," Bowser continued, "so we'll give her a room and help her get settled in, won't we?" He looked at his children suspiciously, especially at Larry. Larry grinned angelically and put his arm around Roy.

"Yes, Dad. On our best behaviour!" Larry said still grinning. Roy was ready to punch Larry next, but then put his arm around Lemmy.

"Yea, Dad. Best behaviour, nuttin' outta us," Roy carried on, and slowly the chain of putting their arms around the others' shoulders started until they were a long link of seven. Bowser nodded and smiled.

"Good. Because I want no trouble out of any of you," he said. Melinda laughed.

"Oh, Bowser! I rarely doubt that they will be any trouble at all. Look at them, such little angels.." she said. She then looked down at Lemmy's new 'face'. She examined the black eye carefully.

"Oh dear, what happened here?" she asked him. Lemmy did nothing but point at Roy, who just grinned.

"Oh, we were playin'. Havin' fun!!" Roy grinned widely. Then he nudged Lemmy hard in the ribs.

"Right?" he said threateningly. Lemmy just rolled his non-black eye at Roy and answered, "Yeah, whatever."

"So, Dad," started Ludwig, " when are you both planning on having this wedding? And where exactly?"

"Well… We hope to have it soon, Ludwig. And as for where? We still have to decide," Bowser answered him. Melinda then hurried up and hugged Bowser again.

"Oh, how about on a really nice day? Just to make everything look pretty!" she suggested, " oh! We could even dress Wendy up, she'll be a little angel."

"That sounds good," Bowser agreed. Wendy stood there smiling arrogantly, her brothers rolling their eyes at her again. Melinda looked at a nearby clock, then turned to the koopalings.

"My my, it is quite late, isn't it? I believe I must be going, and I will see you tomorrow, children," she said, softly waving to them. She then turned to Bowser, kissed him good-night, they both said their good-byes and then she left out the door. 

As soon as she got outside, she suddenly shuddered. There was something not right, but what was it? She looked around, and thought she saw something moving nearby, or at least around the corner of the castle wall. She narrowed her eyes, and decided to go investigate it…

Quite a shock for the night, no? The koopalings, after Melinda left, walked off to their own bedrooms, but none actually had been weary enough to sleep. Especially Wendy, who was now skipping up and down the hallway. Bowser sighed happily, and ventured off to his throne room. On his way, he stopped Ludwig.

Ludwig looked up at Bowser, waiting for him to say or do something. Bowser stared back down at Ludwig, then around the dark stone hallway of the great castle. After he quickly scanned as far as his eyes could see, he raised an eyebrow, then looked back down at Ludwig.

"Ludwig… where is Kamek?" Bowser asked him. Ludwig shrugged, and crept into his room for the night. Bowser straightened himself up and left to his throne room.  
  
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Jeshi: ^-^ Yay!! I'm done the…um..O-o…1ST CHAPTER!! I'm proud of myself…

Larry: @_@ I thought you didn't like long chapters!?!?!?

Jeshi: ^-^ *is close to crying, she's so happy* I think I'm coming over the long chapter scare! Isn't it wonderful? ^-^ That and my goal for this story was to make the first chapter 5000 words long…lol

Larry: O_O…why?

Jeshi: ^-^ I want to make my story longer..lol. ANYWAY..yeah, this may seem a bit 'OOC' to some people, because yeah, a lot of you are probably thinking, "Bowser would never fall in love!" and stuff..but yeah, YOU don't know!! It COULD happen someday!! ^-^

Larry: O_O..I hope not…

Jeshi: ^-^ OH!! And WHY did I have such a large chunk of this chapter with the koopalings and Kamek and stuff? It's not because the koopalings are my little stars of this story, but it's because…well, you'll find out in later chapters…^-^ Be patient, please…lol.

Larry: O_o?! We're the stars of this story?!

Jeshi: _ Yes, don't you read the summary?!

Larry: *reads summary* O_O I'll be damned…

Jeshi: Anyways…^-^ Please be nice with reviews, it's only my second koopaling story, I'm just getting used to their characters…I've seen the shows when I was REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY little…but yeah…I can't remember exactly what their attitudes were, I had an idea…but yeah..I'm just REVIEWING the past for my own benefit for this story ^-^ Okies? YAY!!  
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	2. She f'word' Hates Us

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Jeshi: Well, on to the next chapter, and now for Larry to do the disclaimer because I've got nothing else to say at this time! ^-^

Larry: Jeshi doesn't own anything from Mario..

Jeshi: ^-^ Yes, exactly.  
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The next day came around, and Melinda had come to see them again in the early morning. After the sleep had exited everyone finally, they began to move anything that Melinda had in possession into the castle. For the time being, she had a temporary bedroom of her own in the castle where she would sleep until after she and Bowser were married, of course.

She had boxes of many things. There were goofy looking shoes, many books and a few things of jewellery. One of which had been a little gold pendant that hung on a chain. Of course it would not really amaze the male koopalings, but you forget that there was Wendy there also. She had stared at this certain pendant for quite some time, never taking her eyes off of it. It was as though she was in some sort of trance, because no one could get her attention. It was not until Morton came and snatched it out of her hands that she actually paid attention to what was going on around her. They put the pendant back in the box that they had been snooping in, and hurried along, helping taking other boxes of different sizes down the one corridor to Melinda's temporary room.

After everything had been finally transferred, Melinda decided to spend time with the koopalings. She said she wanted to get to know them. She sat around with Bowser and watched them chase chain chomps around, steal troopa shells and kick them about, and purposely launch bullet bills at sumo brothers for the sheer hell of it.

They pushed goombas into lava pits and laughed hysterically. Melinda laughed too, then sighed watching them.

"I will try to be the best mother there is for your children, Bowser," she said to him.

"That is nice, I'm not always here so I never know what they are doing or anything. Usually I just have Kamek look out for them," he replied, watching Larry throw fishbones to the piranha plants. Morton then slowly approached Melinda and Bowser.

"Do you want to hear something I thought up?" he asked, supposedly "shy."

Bowser gave him a stern gaze and shook his head.

"Morton…NO…" he answered. Melinda held on to Bowser's arm and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Oh Bowser, just let him. I bet it will be darling," she said. Morton gave a sarcastically sweet smile, while Bowser widened his eyes slightly at Melinda.

"Are you serious?" he asked her. She nodded and then turned to Morton and said, "Go ahead, dear."

Morton's eyes brightened. They really wanted to listen?! He was so happy he was ready to jump around screaming. But there was no time for that, because they wanted to listen to the very important things that he had to say. ( a/n: Ain't that cute? Lol ) 

"Well, the topic I have picked for today is the sky. Why is it blue? Why not pink, or purple, or orange? Some say it is because it reflects from the ocean's colour of water, which is blue. But then you ask…why is the water in the ocean blue?! Why not pink or purple, or even orange? And then some say that it is because it is the **ocean** that reflects its colour from the sky. So why are either of them blue? Why not a pink, a purple or an orange? Do they reflect from each other, is it some kind of supernatural conspiracy? And when I say 'supernatural' I mean how is it really possible for us to make it blue? We don't have a giant crayon anywhere or anything. But then again, a marker might work, or a giant paint brush…" Morton started. ( a/n: Yes, that was him just STARTING his little… speech thingy.. Lol ) And then you all know what happened next …sorta, don't you? Well, if you guessed that it would start raining men, you are horribly horribly wrong. As for those who guessed that Morton kept talking… uh… you don't win anything. And why? Because the author is that mean. ( a/n: Thhhhaaat's ME! ^-^ Me me me!! Lol )

It was long into the night when they all decided to go to bed. Melinda followed each koopaling to their bedrooms and looked around inside them, to observe every unique room. She was very interested in them, and tried to memorize how every square inch of the rooms looked like, from top to bottom, left to right, ceiling, floor… everything. She had said goodnight to all the younger ones as she left their bedrooms, and then she ran into Ludwig, who was just creeping off to his room himself.

" Off to bed now, Ludwig?" she asked him sweetly. He silently nodded, and returned to walking towards the door to his bedroom.

" Tired?" she asked him again. He stopped and looked at her, staring at her with bored-looking eyes.

" No. And I'm not going to bed either, sorry to lie," he started, " I'm off to my room where I shall isolate myself as I always do in the darkness. The only light shall be my candles, shining barely enough light to see in my room, where I will be busily working on my creations."

Melinda blinked at Ludwig. She stuttered and laughed nervously. She stared more at the peculiar koopa boy, who just kept staring at her with that bored expression on his face. He smiled weakly and sarcastically, as if to lighten the mood in a joking manner. She laughed and then pet him on the head.

" Oh, isn't that cute.." she said, "you… are… such a charming young man, Ludwig. Indeed you are." She seemed to be having trouble finding words to say to him at that time, and Ludwig swore he felt her claws actually dig in his scalp. He was not sure if she was just nervous or not, but he was not going to worry about it at this time. She just needed to get used to the castle, it was only her first night there. Ludwig made the smile appear on his face more sincere.

" Indeed, ma'am," he said politely. She nodded, with a smile on her face, but it looked as though she was forcing it to stay there. But maybe it was just Ludwig's imagination, right? ( a/n: O-O …wow… lol ) But then again, Ludwig never really used an 'imagination'.. he needed another word for it. Maybe he was hallucinating? Or maybe it was his imagination, but only more like an intellectual imagination. Not that imagination that the parents of preschooler children talk about, such as these 'imaginary friends' or so they were called. He had no need for them. No, his imagination was more like the 'futuristic vision' like the Science Fiction writers had. He had the imagination to think up such wonderful inventions, and with his complex mind he was able to create them.

Melinda took her hand off of him and waited for him to start moving again. But he didn't. He just stood there, staring up at her. She then raised an eyebrow.

" Aren't you going off to your room now, Ludwig?" she asked him. He stood there, and still stared at her.

" Yes, are you?" he asked her. She widened her eyes slightly at this comment. At the sight of this, Ludwig lowered his voice, " sorry, ma'am.. I'm just.. Not really comfortable with the fact that someone is in my bedroom and looking around. Though you mean nothing by it, even my own father is not allowed inside. Even if I was sick I would not allow anyone in there. I hope you are not offended." She continued to stare at him blankly, then smiled at him again with that forced looking smile.

" Yes… Yes, Ludwig I understand," she replied. She then turned and left down the hallway in a hurried manner. Ludwig watched her go. She seemed to be slightly… upset? Or mad? What had he done to get her mad? He had hoped that maybe she did not take that the wrong way in any way. And why should she have? He had even told her he had meant no offence by it. He then sighed and turned to the dark wooden door. He opened it up and entered his dark room, and closed it shut again, and shut it would stay all night long.

As for Melinda, she hurried down to her own new room for her first night there. She was so excited, she was going to get married, she loved Bowser, she loved this castle and everything about it. Her, as the wife of the king of the koopas, her, the queen of the koopas, by Bowser's side. She could hardly wait. She even liked the underlings that ran about the castle. She decided it would be beautiful to live here forever with him, and she smiled widely when she thought about it. 

On her way down another hallway, she noticed that there were portraits on the walls. She found one of Bowser, quite a few of them actually. She smiled when she saw the portraits of him, and followed them, examining every one of them. She had even ran into one of someone named "Morton"… she had remembered a while ago, about Bowser speaking of someone named Morton before. It was not his son though. This koopa actually looked quite older, and as sinister looking as her beloved Bowser himself. She continued following the corridor of portraits and other odd paintings, still smiling.

But it was not long until her smile faded from her face, and the light and happy feeling inside of her fluttered away. She ran into another portrait.. A few actually. There was one of Wendy, another of Lemmy.. There was one for all seven of them. Her smile had fallen so much into a frown that she was surprised that her face did not sag to the floor. She pursed her lips tightly and continued following them. She reached the end of the great hallway where there was one last portrait, two of them. In the first was the seven koopalings together, the last was the seven of them with their father. Just the look of Bowser made her slightly happier again, but she narrowed her eyes after a few seconds longer of staring at the picture. Everything here was perfect for her, but she had only one problem..

Seven problems, actually..

The koopalings. They were the only things standing in her way. She loved Bowser dearly, but she just did not like his children. She did not like children at all actually. The only children she'd ever want would be her own, and these children were not her own, that and she did not even like children in general. She just wanted them out of the way for after they were married. But what was she to do? She really did not want to hurt Bowser, but if the children were gone, he might be upset. Should she send the children to a boarding school or something? But whatever she did, she didn't want them around. Unless…

Unless she had made it seem as though the children had mysteriously disappeared? Like an accident? If she could just get rid of them somehow, and keep Bowser's mind off of them, she would never have to worry about them. But there were seven of them. That was quite a bit to get rid of. And quite challenging too, she would have to think of a lot of excuses as to how each of them 'left' or 'disappeared' somehow. 

She did not want to think about it anymore. She shrugged it off as much as she could, and ventured back to her own room. She crawled into bed and went to sleep, or at least tried to. She couldn't get these 'problems' off her mind. In the end, the thought of her having Bowser all to herself was enough to get her to finally fall asleep and get some rest.

The next day, Melinda kept as close as possible to Bowser as she could. She didn't want to have his children near him, and if they were, she tried to get them to leave in some way or another. Whether she told them that she needed to talk to Bowser about something really important and that they had to leave, or she gave them something to do, such as chase bob-ombs around for no apparent reason. ( She was surprised that that excuse had even worked about three times that day )

No, that did not mean that she exactly had gotten away with it without anyone noticing, ( well, Bowser did not notice ) the koopalings had wondered what was going on with her. Iggy assumed that maybe they just wanted to be alone together to get ready for the wedding. Roy just mumbled and kicked anything in his way, and Wendy seemed to be in a much more cheerful mood than usual. But Lemmy had been the one to question as to what Melinda was really doing. Of course the other little siblings would not know what he was talking about, so he turned to the only other one who would listen and give him the most accurate answer possible. He turned to Ludwig of course.

Lemmy had found Ludwig searching through chests in a giant spare room somewhere. He was in the process of looking for something, apparently for another invention no doubt. He suddenly straightened up and turned around to face Lemmy when he heard him walk in through the doorway. Before Lemmy could say anything, Ludwig cut in on him.

" Do you happen to know what an electro-magnetic safely metallic-based corkscrew is?" Ludwig asked him. 

Lemmy blinked at Ludwig. Ludwig sighed at him and said, "It is a special-like screw driver that is a phallic shape." Lemmy yet again, blinked, and tilted his confused head to the side. Ludwig looked down at the ground, sighed and shook his head.

"Let's put it into terms that you will understand…it looks like some sort of missile , or a Bullet Bill you could say?" he then said. Lemmy just stared at Ludwig, before yet again blinking. Ludwig stared at him, waiting for an answer. Lemmy stared back at him. The two of them stared at each other for a long time. After the two of them stared at each other long enough (so long that their eyes had actually gotten a super dry feeling ), Lemmy took a breath.

" Anyway," he said, changing the subject, " have you noticed something different about Melinda?" Ludwig continued staring at him, and then after another silent minute, he blinked.

" We only met the woman the other night, Lemmy," he answered, " you already expect us to notice a change in her behaviour?"

Lemmy shook his head, " No, but I mean, even for the short time that we've known her, she just seems to be acting… um.. Strange… " he said. Ludwig sighed.

" Well, indeed she might be acting strange for quite a while, Lemmy. Because getting married is not exactly a 'we will get this done and we are over with it, it is no big deal' kind of thing. Getting married means that you are going to respect, live with and love the other that you are planning on marrying. It is a very big issue indeed. That and she still must get used to living in here in the castle, especially with us, for she has no children of her own; and there are seven of us! And if you ask me, sometimes we are a handful ourselves, whether we realise it or not," Ludwig answered. Lemmy nodded to show that he understood.

" Is that all you wanted, Lemmy?" Ludwig asked him. Lemmy nodded again. Then Ludwig asked, " And have you seen an electro-magnetic safely metallic-based corkscrew?" Lemmy's eyes went wide when he heard this again.

" An electra-metal magnatic what?!" Lemmy stuttered, "what is that?! " A devilish grin crept on Ludwig's face.

" There is no such thing!" Ludwig said. Lemmy stared at him blankly and completely bewildered. Ludwig shook his head, still with the grin on his face.

" No, actually what I am really looking for is a screw driver. You see how gullible you all are though? I can just throw words together and you will never know what on Earth I am talking about!" he said. He then turned and started digging through the chests again. ( a/n: ^-^ …I won't say anything… O-O… too late.. Lol )

" What are you making this time? " Lemmy asked him. Ludwig stopped and glanced up at Lemmy and said, " I thought you were finished with your questions.." Lemmy rolled his eyes and asked him again what he was up to.

" It is a hypnotism reverse thing. It has not been given a proper name as of yet," Ludwig answered.

" Ohhh… so kind of like a.. um… un-hypnotism thingy?" Lemmy then asked. Ludwig nodded, and resumed his digging. Another second later, he had emerged from the chests with a screw driver in his hand. He rolled it around in his fingers, inspecting it.

" Hmmm… it's not exactly a flat-head that I was hoping for, but it shall do," he said, still looking it over.

" What do you need a de-hypno-thing-a-ma-bob for anyway?" Lemmy asked then, tilting his head to the side again. Ludwig looked back up at him when he was finally satisfied with the look of the tool in his hands.

" I always thought that… it might come to be useful some day.." he said as he strolled out of the room, twirling the screw driver with his fingers. But Lemmy still had his doubts.

" Hmph… I'll show you, Ludwig," Lemmy muttered to himself with a grin. Lemmy felt like he already had figured this out, even before his smarter older brother. And he was going to prove it too.

Lemmy had taken off to his own bedroom, where he remained in there for some hours, thinking of what to do. He was sure that something was not right. He had already noticed how she clung to their dad, and whenever they wanted to speak to him, she gave an excuse of some sort to make them leave. Why was she doing this? He was sure that it was not just because she wanted to spend time with him, because if that was true, she would have at least let them see their father every now and then even just to talk to him. He was not really sure, but he was bound to find out.

It was later that Lemmy emerged from his bedroom, with an idea finally. He climbed up a set of dark stoned stairs. He waited and checked to make sure that no one was around, then as soon as a koopa troopa walked by him, he shoved it down the stairs, and followed it close behind. With every thud he yelled, "Ow! Ow!!" Once the troopa had hit the landing, he quickly shoved him to the side, sat down and grabbed hold of his leg.

" AHHH!!" He yelled in 'pain'. The first ones to appear inside the room, answering his call was Morton and Iggy. Iggy's eyes went wide as soon as he saw Lemmy sitting there, holding onto his 'wounded' leg.

" Lemmy!!" He cried, "what happened to you?!" He ran towards him to see if he was okay.

" I fell down the stairs… and I can't move my leg," Lemmy answered, wincing. Morton ran a few circles around them.

" And he is DOWN again!! This guy must be super accident prone, he never seems to keep out of an injury, it really is AMAZING, ladies and gentlemen!!" he cried as he ran out of the room, " oh Daaaaaaddd!! Your poor dying son has yet again, another injury, I'm sorry he may not make it through the night, he has severe head trauma!"

Lemmy suddenly glared at Morton and yelled, "You idiot!! I'm not dying!!!" But Morton apparently had not heard. He kept running down the hall, yelling and screaming about how Lemmy had also mysteriously picked up Leukemia in a matter of thirty seconds.

Iggy sat with Lemmy, and after five minutes approximately of Lemmy pretending to be in pain, and saying "Ow ow ow" over and over again, the other siblings had peeked into the room. Wendy only peeked her head over the side of the wall with a cloth over her nose and mouth.

" Morton said you had the cold, Lemmy," she said. Roy ran into the room and dropped a plastic spider on Lemmy. Lemmy stared blankly at it, then looked up at Roy, who was ready to start laughing. Iggy looked confused also.

" Uhh… Roy? What are you doing?" He asked him. Roy suddenly stomped his foot in rage.

" Stupid Morton!! You said that Lemmy was Arachnophobic!!" he yelled. Lemmy shook his head.

" WHAT?! Why were you guys listening to Morton-" Lemmy started. But before he could carry on, Larry had come running into the room, panicked.

" Morton just said that Lemmy had Schizophrenia!!!" He yelled. Lemmy stared at Larry too.

" No, I-"

" What is this about Lemmy having Breast Cancer?" Ludwig raised an eyebrow as he stepped into the room. Before anyone could answer, they all heard the roaring voice of Bowser.

" WHAT?!? LEMMY HAD A HEART ATTACK!?!?!?" Everyone stood around, shocked. Bowser stormed in the room, and looked around at everyone, and down at the still alive and conscious Lemmy. They all stared at the shocked look on Bowser's face, he even had a vein that was visible on top of his forehead. His eye twitched when he saw Lemmy still alive and well though. He turned to Morton, who was now standing in the doorway, smiling nervously at everyone who was now giving him dirty looks.

" Morton… WHAT is this all about?" Bowser demanded. Melinda had walked up and put her hand on Bowser's shoulder.

" Um… well… bye! And he is off! He's gone, he's outta here!!" Morton answered, and took off running again. Roy stormed after him.

" GET BACK HERE, YA LITTLE FREAK!!" he screamed after him. After Roy and Morton were gone ( a/n: Run, Morton, run!! Lol ^-^ ) everyone had directed their attention back to Lemmy, who was now sitting quite comfortably with his hands on his leg. He quickly noticed that he was being watched, and went back to the whole 'ow ow' thing.

" So… what happened?" Bowser asked.

" I fell down the stairs, Dad," answered Lemmy. Iggy inspected Lemmy's leg, and said to Bowser, " And he says he can't move it.." Lemmy nodded, agreeing with Iggy. Bowser looked over at them gravely, then stepped forward and picked up Lemmy. He walked down the corridors and took him to his room where he laid him down on his bed. 

While Bowser was carrying Lemmy, he looked over his dad's shoulder to see Melinda standing there watching them with a very stern look on her face. Almost as if she was mad at Lemmy. He did not show it physically, but mentally inside him, he had a big smile on his face. He had succeeded in annoying her, obviously. Bowser had checked his leg carefully, without saying anything. After he observed Lemmy's 'injured' leg, he looked up at him.

" There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it, Lemmy," he said, " you might have just sprained it, or it's just sore. But stay off it for a bit." He then turned and left the room.

As soon as he was sure that his dad was gone, he sat up and laughed.

It had not been very long after he sat up, that his door opened a crack, and inside stepped Ludwig. Lemmy stopped laughing abruptly and stared at Ludwig as he crept into the room, and silently shut the door.

" Hmph. I knew you must have been faking it," Ludwig said with a smug look on his face, " and you seemed to have gotten Melinda pretty angry." Lemmy smiled.

" Yeah, well. She has been trying to keep us away from Dad all day, and I thought that she was maybe up to something. I told you," Lemmy answered. Ludwig turned and headed for the door.

" I never did say that I doubted you, did I, Lemmy?" he said as he exited the room, shutting the door gently behind him. Lemmy flopped backwards on his bed, let out a laugh, and then decided to sleep away the rest of the day.

As for Melinda, she was pissed. Bowser was still worrying slightly about Lemmy and the accident he had. He had not even noticed that she was standing there, he had not even acknowledged her. She could not believe that after she had spent the whole day with him, and sending the children off to do other things, she had him to herself all day, but yet in the end, the children got him to pay attention to them, rather than her. It had been enough to drive her nuts. 

She was now at the point that she'd do anything just to have Bowser, do anything just to get rid of the koopalings. But how would she do it? She stomped around the castle for almost most of the day. It was later in the night and she was still marching about, talking to herself.

" Those little brats," she said to herself, " what am I going to do about them?!"

Just to find the words to describe it all, she could not find them. A thought then crossed her mind… what if she just killed them somehow? It was a little drastic, dastardly at that, and she seemed to like it.

" I have to get rid of those horrible children," she spoke aloud again. She stopped and stared up at the ceiling, then walked down her own hallway, only to find the portraits again. She found the one with Bowser and all seven of the koopalings.

She hated it. The more she looked at that particular portrait, she could feel a deep hatred inside her. Why? She never knew. She did not like it, but she did not like the idea of having any children around when she got married either. She then decided then and there, no matter what, she was going to do what ever she could to get rid of them. If it hurt Bowser then let it, because she was a good liar, she could play along, and then direct his attention to something else instead of his children. By the time she was finished, he will have forgotten that he even had children in the first place. 

" I WILL get rid of them," she said, smiling. She then turned on her heels and began another walk in the castle, a little sort of spring in her step.

" I do not care what I will have to do to do it, but I will be rid of them.." That is right, it would just be Bowser and her, the king and almost queen of the koopas, only them. No children, not now… not ever.

" Ha, no more children, never! I will get rid of the little brats, and no one will ever know-" she said as she turned the corner, and there, standing in front of her by his bedroom door was none other than Ludwig.

She froze when she saw him. Had he been listening?! Had he heard what she had just said? She stood there, staring, completely shocked and not knowing what to do or what to say to him. He stood there also, staring back at her, with those boring eyes of his. They seemed to be digging their way into her own eyes, as if he was reading her mind or something.

There was an eerie silence between the two of them. Melinda looked absolutely stunned, while Ludwig looked bored. Either way, they continued just staring, as if they were waiting for the other to start moving somehow. Eventually, Ludwig just nodded his head to hers lightly, completely expression-less and entered his room for the night. Melinda stood there for a few minutes, not sure what to do. Even now that he was gone, she was not sure. Had he really heard? What if he knew?

The chances are that he probably knew. The boy was smart. Very smart, a little TOO smart. At least, that is what she thought. He was a little too smart for his own good. 

She finally grinned widely. He DID know, didn't he? He knew, in other words, he knew too much. She shook her head, thinking on how dreadful it was to waste such a brain. If only he had not been there at the time he was. And why?

Melinda decided that Ludwig would be the first to go.

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Jeshi: Yay!! Chapter 2 is finished!! And yet again, it took me almost a week to write! Lol

Larry: O_O Wow..your chapters are long..lol

Jeshi: ^-^ Yeppers, *glares at Kaira-chan* _ And quit lying, Kaira-chan, it was NOT because of you that my chapters are long. I just want to make my story long, it's a GOAL, unlike YOU, who never MAKES any!! =P Well, at least meaningful ones…lol XD Oooh, who's been burned? LOL!!

Larry: O_O…You told me that you wanted to make your chapters long a long time ago..

Jeshi: ^-^ Yeppers, I wanted to write longer chapters, because mine were always like…1000 words long… maybe even less…I wanted to write longer a LONG time ago!! Lol  
Larry: @_@ And now you are..

Jeshi: ^-^ Yeppers, anyways…reviews people, I SO hope to have the 3rd chapter up sooooooon! Lol  
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	3. Death to Ludwig?

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Jeshi: And now chapter 3! ^-^ *rolls eyes at Kaira-chan* Whatever, believe whatever funky shit YOU want. Lol! ^-^;; You are doing nothing but lying to yourself. =)

Larry: O_O… Am I missing something again?

Jeshi: ^-^ Yes, the disclaimer.

Larry: O_O.. Oh yeah…^_^ Jeshi does not own anything from Mario.

Jeshi: *pets Larry* Good boy! ^-^ lol

Larry: @_@ I wish she wouldn't do that.  
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After Ludwig had entered his bedroom that night, he walked over to his working desk where he found his 'yet to be named' invention. The truth was, he never did know how he got the idea for it. He had a feeling some nights ago, that something like it would be needed. For what, he never knew.

He picked it up and examined it again. Actually, it looked more like some sort of ray gun that an alien would use in the old science fiction movies. He raised his eyebrow at it.

" Interesting…" he said to himself while setting it back down carefully. It still needed work to be done on it, so he was sure that it was still quite fragile.

He had then climbed into his own bed, thinking about what Melinda had said out in the hallway. He had only heard her say "I will get rid of the little brats, and no one will ever know" but that was all he needed to hear to realise that she was up to something. And it involved him and his siblings.

He lay there and stared up at the ceiling, thinking of what to do. He was not sure exactly how long he lay there thinking, but it was quite a while, even for him. In the end he decided to see what would happen before he really assumed anything. You never know, she could have been talking about other children, right? Or not… Melinda did not know any other children, did she? He did not want to think about it anymore. He let sleep take over him, and hopefully he would have an idea tomorrow.

Unfortunately, that idea never did come for Ludwig. But he had come to the decision of keeping a close watch over his siblings, and keeping his eye on Melinda.

That day though, Melinda had dragged everyone outside for the afternoon. They had gone for a walk, some ways from the castle. Far enough so that they found a lake, where a giant sleeping Cheep Cheep was to be hiding. A nice walk led them all around the huge lake, with Bowser and Melinda up ahead, linking arms. ( a/n: Not surprising, huh? Lol ) The koopalings followed closely behind, with Ludwig bringing up the rear end. Every time his siblings looked back at him, he was watching Melinda. Larry watched Ludwig while he walked, and then nudged Roy.

" Roy, what is Ludwig doing?" he whispered to him worriedly. Roy glanced back at Ludwig, then answered, "why should I care?" Morton had suddenly hopped to them.

" So… what is this? A whispering party???" Morton whispered excitedly, looking from Larry to Roy. Roy glared at him.

" Go away!" he hissed at Morton.

" What is Ludwig doing?" Larry asked Morton. Roy clapped a hand to his forehead, rolling his eyes. 

'_ That's right, Larry, you just go ahead and ask Morton.._' Roy thought sarcastically.

" Oh, I see… well, he appears to be looking at something, but what? I do not know, no one knows, not even you, and that is why you are asking me, because you do not know, and none of us know actually. What is it? What could it be? And WHY are we whispering?!" Morton said, raising his voice slightly. Roy shushed him. Larry looked around to see if anyone else was listening in. He had noticed that Ludwig had given the three of them weird looks, but he tried to ignore that.

" Because… we just do not want to be heard," Larry replied, looking around again.

" Oh, so it is a secret is it? And if we speak too loud, it will no longer be a secret, but a public discussion, corrrrect?" Morton said smiling. Larry glared at him.

" No! It is not a secret, and it is not a public discussion either, we just wanted to know what was up with Ludwig!" Larry whispered frustrated.

" Oh, well in that case. No one knows what is up with Ludwig, all I know is that up… is the sky, and then down… is the grass and little dirt path that we walk upon, and then there are little bugs and rocks and any other not so nice surprises that any dogs have left behind. And then to the left of us is a little field of odd-looking flowers, and then to the right is-DUCKS!!!!!" Morton suddenly screamed, then took off running into a horde of ducks that panicked and flew away. Others flapped their wings and ran around, mothers collected their children and tried to fly away. Then there were the ones left that hissed and tried to bite at Morton, who was now running around flapping his arms and screaming "honk honk" at the ducks, in hopes of terrorizing them.

Larry and Roy both raised eyebrows at Morton, and then spoke no more for the rest of the walk.

They all stopped and sat down by the lake eventually. While Morton ran around screaming at ducks again, Wendy started picking out flowers. Lemmy sat around talking to Iggy. It was all that Lemmy could do, his father had already had his doubts of taking Lemmy with them because of Lemmy's 'accident' yesterday. Lemmy had convinced Bowser that he was able to walk, but his leg still hurt. Bowser in the end let him go with them, but to keep his cover he decided to just sit around.

Melinda and Bowser continued their planning, all the while Melinda watched Ludwig. Every now and then Ludwig would glance over at her, but then turn away. He had secluded himself away from everyone, and sat staring down at the green-blue and dirty lake. She reached into her purse and pulled out a little tin.

Ludwig saw her take the tin out of her purse. Though he was supposedly looking down at the water, he could see her just fine out of the corner of his eye what she was doing. She had opened it slightly, reached her hand inside and took out something. It was so small that he could not even see it. It must have been some sort of powder, or flakes, or something like that. She sprinkled it into the edge of the water, then shut the tin, and hidden it back in her purse. What was that? And what did she do with it?

He stared long at the area in the water that she had sprinkled the weird substance. There did not seem to be anything different about the water in any way. Actually, the stuff was floating in the water… like fish food? It proved to be quite odd to him as to why she put it in the water, was she trying to attract something? Lure something up to the surface of the water? The giant Cheep cheep? 

Ludwig looked over at Lemmy and Iggy, the two of them were sitting there still, but no longer talking. Instead, their attention was directed to him. They were watching him. Why?

" He is looking over at us," Iggy said, still watching Ludwig. Lemmy slowly nodded.

" Yeah… what is he doing anyway?" Lemmy asked. Iggy shrugged, and resumed watching Ludwig. He stared back at them.

" He has been like this all day. It is as if he is waiting for something to happen," Iggy said.

" Yeah, and he keeps watching Melinda too," Lemmy replied. They observed their older brother for some more minutes, then they just decided to watch Roy chase Morton around with a giant stick.

Ludwig was still watching them even after they had stopped watching him. He then directed his attention back to Melinda and Bowser, more likely Melinda. She had done no more with the little tin after that, and the substance had not gone anywhere, but stayed buoyant in the water.

At long last, they had finally gotten up to go home. They started their long walk back to the castle, Ludwig behind everyone again. After some time of walking, Melinda had suddenly let out a small gasp. She had a quick, low conversation with Bowser, then turned around and walked back, passed the other koopalings and up to Ludwig, who stopped abruptly and looked up at her.

" Oh, Ludwig dear," she said sweetly, " I seem to have accidentally left my purse back at the lake, would you be a dear and go retrieve it for me?"

He stood there staring at her. It was true, she did not seem to have the purse with her, but she also could have been hiding it, it WAS that small. But then again, she could have also left it back at the lake. He just nodded.

" Yes, ma'am," he replied inaudibly as he slowly turned and headed back in the direction towards the lake.

Melinda watched Ludwig walk back to the lake. She smiled and mentally congratulated herself on a 'job well done'. She then turned with a little spring in her step, and headed back towards Bowser. 

The other koopalings watched her curiously. Lemmy had gotten worried right away. He had never seen her this happy ever since the first night they had met her at the castle. He then worried about Ludwig. Why didn't she just ask him to go instead? Why Ludwig? He looked to see that Iggy was looking up at him worriedly himself. Lemmy just smiled at him and they all continued their trip home.

Ludwig slowly made it back to the lake. He eyed it carefully. He saw the area where Bowser and Melinda had sat. 

The purse was not there.

He smiled smugly. Ha, he knew it. But then he wondered about the weird stuff that Melinda had sprinkled in the water earlier. He looked around, and then cautiously crept forward. He had gotten to the edge of the lake, where he looked over, sure to see that the substance was still there. But it was not there. He raised an eyebrow, where had it gone? Did it dissolve in water or any other liquids?

He folded his hands together behind his back and gazed down in the water, trying to see if maybe it just sank some how. He let out a sigh, sure that it was long gone. Whatever happened to it, he was not sure of. But still, something did not seem right about what was going on. About where he was, and WHY the stuff in the water was gone. He looked around again inquisitively, then back down into the dark water. But now there was something else there, something new. There two round, white balls, with little black horizontal slits. Was that… the giant cheep cheep?

Ludwig's eyes went wide as he stared down at the enormous cheep cheep. It stared at him back. Ludwig did not know what to do. He did not want to move, because that was what this cheep cheep obviously wanted him to do. But he could not just stand there all night. He had to move eventually. He swallowed hard and continued staring down at the huge figure. Ludwig then had an idea.

He slowly turned his head to the right, still staring down at the cheep cheep. The cheep cheep's whole body turned with him, its eyes still staring up at Ludwig. Ludwig then turned his head back over to the far left. The cheep cheep did so also, eyes still staring. Ludwig then centred his head back again. The cheep cheep did the same.

" You clever little bugger…" Ludwig muttered. He could not move anywhere without this cheep cheep coming after him, was what Ludwig had concluded. And though it was just a fish, that did not mean that it could not get him if it tried. And by the looks of it, it really looked as though this fish was going to definitely try. 

' _This is it… I'm going to move…_' Ludwig thought. He slowly, while still looking down at the cheep cheep, slid one foot back. Ludwig tried to shift the rest of his body back a bit, but the cheep cheep shook and edged to the surface when he moved. He kept the rest of his body still for a few seconds.

" Heheh…bye," Ludwig muttered to the fish, then quickly pivoted on one foot and tried to break into a run. At the time that Ludwig had pivoted, the cheep cheep had erupted from the waters and grabbed a hold of Ludwig, pulling him in the water with it.

The cheep cheep had a tight hold of Ludwig, but was not trying to eat him. At least, that was how Ludwig had put it, for if it was, it would have done so by now. Instead, the cheep cheep seemed to be swimming down to the bottom of the lake. And this lake was REALLY deep. He struggled to get free from the cheep cheep's mouth somehow, but the cheep cheep was so big and had a good grip on him. Ludwig was already having trouble holding his breath, he did not get that much air to take in before he was submerged in the first place. He continued to fight with the cheep cheep, until it was only holding onto the lower half of his body. He kicked at the inside of the cheep cheep's mouth wildly, while on the outside, he clawed away at the outside of its mouth. He dared not risk biting for the fact that he would end up collecting water in his mouth which would drain out the air. Leaving him with not even enough time to make it to the surface to breathe. Ludwig then kicked with his claws digging into the cheep cheep's mouth on the inside, which made it lose it's grip on Ludwig.

Ludwig broke free and swam as fast as he could to the surface, pacing himself so he would not tire. He squinted his eyes against any odd particles floating in the water, and reached the surface of the lake. He gasped in a huge breath of air, only to be seconds pulled under again by the cheep cheep.

He kicked at it again, and clawed madly. The cheep cheep had then flipped up its tail when it sharply turned its body, which hit Ludwig. He gave out a scream in pain, which never helped him at all. No one could hear him and come to help, and now he had no air to hold in. He spat out any water he had in his mouth ( a/n: Into the… um… water of course… lol ) and clawed back at the giant fish. The cheep cheep made another sharp turn, and its tail flipped up again. Ludwig saw it coming and before it could hit him, he opened his own mouth and bit into its tail as hard as he could while digging his claws into the tail. The cheep cheep gave out some kind of a yelp and let go of him again. Ludwig swam off again.

He could see the edge of the lake, the shore upwards somewhere. He swam in that direction rather than straight up like he had done before. He quickly stuck his head above the water to grab some air before diving under again. Just as he had stuck his head out of the water, the cheep cheep had jumped and went to dive on Ludwig, who had gone back underwater and gotten out of the way before the cheep cheep had caught him. He tried to twist to the left or right from time to time to keep his path from being a straight one. If it was a straight one, the cheep cheep would surely get him again.

He swam up once he saw that the land was almost a straight up swim. He hurried as fast as he could, and he broke out of the water, and struggled to get up onto the land. The cheep cheep had grabbed his foot now and pulled. Ludwig let go of the land, turned around and clawed at the cheep cheep's eyes. Blood seeped around in the water as the cheep cheep shook wildly. Ludwig used the cheep cheep's blindness as an advantage to get out of the water.

He emerged from the water yet again and quickly climbed onto the land. He gasped for air in quick short breaths and tiredly yet quickly pulled himself away from the edge of the great lake. Once he knew for sure that he was safely out of the cheep cheep's reach, he collapsed on the ground, taking in deep, slow breaths. He knew that his heart rate must have been the highest it had ever been in his life, because he could actually hear it beating exceptionally fast. He coughed a couple of times, then lay there, weak and light-headed.

He was not sure exactly how long he had lay there, but he slowly lifted his head when he felt drops of water falling on him. He looked up, the sun was setting and it had just started to rain. As if he was not wet enough already, he got up and wearily made the journey back to the castle.

! @ ! @ ! @ ! @ ! @ ! @ !

While Ludwig was trying to make it back to the castle, his own family was already looking for him inside it.

" I wonder where he could be?!" Iggy said as he ran up and down the hallways. Lemmy sat around in a chair ( a/n: Remember the stairs incident? Lol ) worriedly. He had seen Ludwig go back towards the lake, but what happened to him?! This was not like Ludwig at all, normally he would have been back by now, even earlier. Lemmy looked and saw his dad walk into the room.

" LUDWIG!!" Bowser called. Melinda had come walking up to Bowser.

" Bowser… there was that giant cheep cheep in the lake. It likes to come out when it is very rainy," Melinda said. Bowser stared wide-eyed, then sat down in a chair himself.

" In other words… my oldest son has been eaten by a FISH!?" he said angrily. Melinda patted his hand.

" It's okay… he was a really good boy," she said comfortingly. Bowser just continued to stare. Lemmy sat there, a sickness filling his stomach. That meant that Ludwig was dead. No way, Ludwig could not be dead, could he? Ludwig and the word 'dead' did not go together at all.

It was then that the door opened, and standing there in the now pouring rain was Ludwig. Bowser jumped to his feet when he saw Ludwig. Ludwig walked inside, totally soaked from head to toe and walked up to his dad.

" Sorry I am late.." he said tiredly, " and that purse was no where to be found." His brothers and sister looked at him shocked, but relieved at the same time. Ludwig stood composed with his hands folded behind his back again and stared up at Melinda, who looked almost horrified, as if she had seen a ghost. ( a/n: Hehehe…BOO!! ^-^ )

" Ludwig… how… we thought something had happened to you.." she said nervously. Ludwig grinned maliciously at her.

" Yeah… something COULD have happened, huh?" he said to her. She stared down at him, he grinned at her. 

Bowser was relieved with the fact that his son was back and in one piece ( a/n: Just the way he left! Lol ) so he left to his throne room. Melinda followed behind him, now raged with the fact that Ludwig was still alive.

After Melinda and Bowser had left out of earshot, Ludwig shook out his hair and sat down.

" So… our little genius here had an accident?" Roy asked mockingly.

" That was no accident!" Ludwig snapped at him. Roy jumped, the idea of Ludwig ever snapping at him so suddenly must have shocked him. The other koopalings had crowded around Ludwig.

" Well, what happened then?" Lemmy asked. Ludwig looked down gravely at the floor.

" She set it all up. That tin… it must have been some sort of food for the fish, to lure it to the surface, it would then keep a close watch to see if anything else came by. Unfortunately, I was the one that came by after," Ludwig said shaking his head. His siblings raised their eyebrows at him.

" What tin?" Iggy asked him, tilting his head.

" Melinda had a tin today while we were at the lake. She took some kind of fish food out of it and sprinkled it in the water. After we left, she waited until we were a few ways away from the lake, so that if I needed help no one would be able to hear me, she sent ME to go get her purse that she supposedly left behind. I got back to the lake, and it was not there, and inside the water, was the giant cheep cheep that the food had attracted. I tried to run from it and it got me, it tried to drown me, I had to fight my way out of it. I was able to break myself free and I made it back home eventually," Ludwig answered. Lemmy suddenly jumped up.

" She did that?! WHY you?! She tried to kill you!!" Lemmy cried. His brothers and sister went into another state of shock when they all saw that Lemmy was able to stand.

" Lemmy!! I thought you hurt your leg!" Wendy yelled.

" I faked it!" he said.

" You FAKED it?!" cried Iggy. Lemmy nodded violently.

" Yes, because-"

" Melinda wants dad to herself, and she does not want us around," Ludwig interrupted, " Lemmy decided to see if this was true by allegedly 'injuring' himself. It worked because she got mad, and because she got mad, she started talking to herself in the hallways, plotting to get rid of us, and because she started talking to herself, I heard her when she turned the corner. And because of THAT incident, she decided to kill me first! Because I knew what she was doing, and she obviously did not want me to tell you guys OR Dad about it."

The other six koopalings' eyes had again gone wide. They all looked from one to another in silence.

" Hmph… that's what SHE thinks, she can't get rid of us!" Roy said arrogantly. Ludwig jumped up and gave Roy a harsh glare.

" She is MUCH smarter than she appears to be, Roy," he said, "even I was not expecting what happened at the lake." Larry sat around and looked around at his siblings, shaking.

" Well… she can't really get rid of us, can she, Ludwig? I mean… there's seven of us.." he said. Roy gave Ludwig a shove and said, "Yeah! There's seven of us an' one of her! What's she gonna do?!" Ludwig shoved Roy back.

" There is PLENTY of what she could do!! And YOU do not know for sure, do you, Roy!? And she can get rid us, she can kill us even, and she WILL if she has to," Ludwig answered gravely. Roy continued to glare, but said nothing else. They all looked at each other, and there was silence yet again.

" But…but she can't do that, Daddy will believe us if we told him about this," Wendy said, trying to gain some confidence. Ludwig shook his head at her.

" No, Wendy. It will not work. If she has spent enough time with father, then he will choose her word over ours. Because she will have been with him more than us, and he would probably think that we are lying just so that he will spend more time with us," he replied. Wendy huffed and crossed her arms.

" So… what are we going to do?" Iggy asked. They all looked at Ludwig. He had his arms crossed, his eyes closed and his head down. They all knew what that meant. He was thinking. They all sat around in silence, eagerly waiting for one of Ludwig's great plans to come out. At long last, Ludwig opened his eyes and looked up their anxious faces. He frowned at them.

" Nothing.." he said.

" Nothing?! You mean… you have no ideas as to what to do, Ludwig?!" Lemmy asked. Ludwig shook his head.

" Nothing," he repeated. He stared down at the floor. 

" And the great and master genius, Ludwig Von Koopa has NO ideas in his superior brain at this time, ladies and gentlemen… it… it's actually kinda scary…" Morton said wide-eyed. He then grew quiet, a feat that has really never been accomplished unless someone told him to shut his yap. Ludwig then looked up at them again.

" Well… the only thing that I CAN think of for the time being is to not be alone," he said. His siblings gave him questioning looks.

" We need to get rid of her before she gets rid of us, correct? Until I have an idea to do so, none of us is to be alone," Ludwig continued, "we will all pair up and stick together. The oldest will be with the youngest ones. Lemmy will take Larry, Roy and Morton will be partners, and then there will be Iggy and Wendy." Roy rolled his eyes when he heard that he was to be paired up with Morton.

" Why do I get the chatter-box?!" Roy demanded.

" Because, YOU have to take the next youngest, which is Morton. The younger ones need an older person to keep them out of trouble and keep them from announcing any plans we come up with, namely MORTON!" Ludwig snapped at Roy again. Roy balled his fist, but did nothing after that.

" What about you, Ludwig?" Lemmy asked him.

" Me? I will be by myself. I will watch over everyone just in case anyone else needs any help at all, but besides that, I am alone," Ludwig answered.

" Now, these are our partners for now. You will stay with them all day, and late into the night, until the two of you go to bed. I will try to set up some sort of communication system for emergencies in the nights, if you need each other or me," Ludwig said, " but until then, NO ONE leaves their partners, not for anything. Have you all got that?"

His siblings all slowly nodded. ( Note that Roy nodded quite reluctantly. )

" I will talk to Dad about it," Ludwig continued, " but I can not guarantee that he will believe me, because Melinda has been around him more than I have been recently."

" I don't care, Ludwig," Roy answered, " I just want that lady outta here before she decides to kill me next!" The others nodded.

" A fight to the death! A seven on one battle, it IS amazing!" Morton cried happily. 

" Oh, shut up!!!" Roy yelled at Morton, who cowered for a few seconds, but then got back up again. 

" Yeah!!" cheered Larry, " this lady has NO idea who she is messing with, does she?" He got a mischievous grin on his face. Lemmy pet Larry on the head and answered, " Yeah, she's going to regret ever thinking of trying to get rid of us!"

" BUT… everyone has to follow the plans!" Ludwig pointed out, " and WITHOUT arguing!" he directed the last comment to Roy, who just rolled his eyes at Ludwig.

That night, they all left down the hallways in their new ordered pairs and left to bed. Ludwig checked on everyone on his way to his own bedroom. Once he was sure that everyone was safely inside their rooms, he entered his own and approached his working desk again. He stared at his incomplete invention, yet to be worked on. Maybe if the lake incident had not happened today he would have had it finished. He looked at the time, and then sat down and began working on it. He could not care if it was even 12:00am, he wanted to get this done and tonight.

After he had put final touches on the unnamed invention still, he crawled into bed. As he fell asleep, he hoped that he would get ideas soon to lose Melinda before them. He hoped even more that his siblings would actually listen to him.

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Jeshi: O-O!! WOOOOWW!! Two whole chapters done in two days!!! YAY!! *dances*

Larry: O_O…Wow…and this one took you only…how long?

Jeshi: ^-^ One day! Lol

Larry: O_O…

Jeshi: Yeah isn't it great?! ^-^

Larry: O_O…Yes…wonderful…

Jeshi: Just like tomorrow, LEARNERS LICENSE!!! I GET MY LEARNERS LICENSE!!! *runs around in circles* ^-^

Larry: O_O…what's so great about that?

Jeshi: It's great because then I can drive, but only with a qualified driver, someone who has had their drivers license for at least one year! ^-^

Larry: O_O…Ohhh…anyway…everyone review Jeshi's story.

Jeshi: YES, PUH-LEASE!! ^-^..And I thank you to the few people who have reviewed so far, you're all so nice!!  
Larry: @_@ Can I go now?

Jeshi: -_-; Yes…but be back for the next chapter…  
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	4. The Events of the Stairs and the Bracele...

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Jeshi: ^-^ I'm so proud of myself… this story is getting long… so far…

Larry: O_O… That's a good thing, right?

Jeshi: *nods* ^-^ Yeppers!

Larry: Okay…

Jeshi: ^-^ And now, the disclaimer… *nudges Larry*

Larry: *rolls eyes* Jeshi doesn't own anything from Mario..

Jeshi: ^-^ Yeppers.  
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The next day, the koopalings, for the most part, had stuck to Ludwig's plan.

Ludwig himself had actually woken up still very groggy that morning. He had kept waking up in periods throughout the night, either worrying if his siblings were safe, or just the fact that he still had not thought of a way to lose Melinda. He did not want to do anything to hurt his father, but he did not want Melinda around anymore either, not if she was going to hurt them. But what was he to do? What were any of them to do?

He took a walk around the castle. Everyone was in the pairs he had put them in yesterday. He was actually quite surprised, but then again, his siblings now knew of the dangers that Melinda was quite capable of putting them in.

Wendy was in her bedroom dolling herself up as usual, while Iggy watched out the crack of the slightly opened door. He saw Ludwig walk by, and frowned. Ludwig seemed very worried, Iggy had never seen him like this before. He dared not ask Wendy about what she thought about Melinda or about Ludwig for that matter. She was already in a huffy mood and somewhat hysterical at that. But then again, Iggy had never even tried to start a conversation with his sister all day so far. He was actually afraid that she might just snap at him.

Finally, Wendy had slammed shut one of her fancy vanity drawers, stomped over to her bed and sat down angrily, crossing her arms. Iggy glanced over at her, she glared at him, he then turned away.

" This is not fair! This is wasting my time!" Wendy pouted, "Ludwig had better know what he is doing!!" Iggy silently shut the door, and then sat down on the floor. ( He would never dare to go near Wendy in a time like this )

" He does… " he answered quietly, " he has not been proven wrong yet."

Meanwhile, Roy and Morton sat on the floor across from each other on either side of a huge candlelit room, staring at each other. Ludwig had walked in on them and gave them both a puzzled look.

" What are you two doing?" he asked them, raising an eyebrow.

" We-" Morton went to answer.

" A _staring_ contest has no place for stupid babblin', Morton! HOW many times do I have to remind ya?!" Roy snapped, frustrated. Morton shut his mouth and they both continued staring at each other in utter silence.

" Have any of you seen Melinda today?" Ludwig asked.

" She's with Dad, I wouldn't be surprised if she never left him now," Roy answered, still staring ahead at Morton, who silently stared back.

" Remember, not one word to Melinda about what we are doing," Ludwig said, " if she even asks, you two are… continuing your staring contest." Ludwig shook his head still silently watching them.

" I have not even been able to say one word today!" Morton pouted.

" What did I say about the starin' contest?!" Roy snapped at him again. Ludwig rolled his eyes, then left the room and continued his walk around the castle.

Lemmy and Larry had ( like Ludwig ) been patrolling the hallways of the castle themselves as well. If anyone asked, ( such as Melinda ) they were just going to go take the chain chomps out for a walk. But really they were walking around the castle talking about whatever came to their minds, while still watching out for Melinda. The two of them finally sat down in very cushiony chairs. ( a/n: ^-^ Me likes cushions… cushions are good, that is why they are in the story… lol )

" Is it just me, or is the day going by very slowly?" asked Lemmy, sighing.

" It's just you.." Larry answered, staring at the ceiling. When he looked back at Lemmy, Lemmy was giving him weird looks.

" Orrrrr… the day is moving very slowly," Larry added quickly, laughing, " I don't know. How long does Ludwig want us to do this for?"

" Not sure. All he said was to stay together, all day until night or whenever we go to sleep. I guess he wants us to go to sleep at the same time too, huh?" Lemmy said. Larry shrugged, and then looked back up at the ceiling. After a few more minutes spent in silence, Lemmy yawned and got up.

" Come on, Larry," he said, " lets go take another walk." Larry nodded, and then he too got up. They continued their walk down the their bedroom hallway. Along the way down the hallway, they passed Ludwig's bedroom.

" We haven't seen much of Melinda today," Lemmy said quietly, " she's probably with Dad."

" Yeah…" answered Larry absentmindedly. But Larry ( of course this is obvious ^-^ ) was not paying attention to Lemmy anymore. He was looking at Ludwig's door. Why? Because it was partially open a crack. Now, usually that might strike someone as odd or suspicious, but this was Larry. Yes, that is right. Larry Koopa, you think he will actually think as to why it was open? If it had any dangers awaiting inside or if he just was not supposed to be there? Or did he even have the decency to actually CLOSE the door because maybe Ludwig accidentally left it open? Nope. And honestly, he did not care. Even if the door was open a dime's width, to him it was an invitation to walk right on in unnoticed. And that was just what he did.

He slowed his walk down until Lemmy was more than a couple of feet away from him. He then slipped in to Ludwig's room without even making a sound. And as for Lemmy… he just kept walking of course.

Inside Ludwig's room, it was dark, ( but then again, when wasn't it? ) and of course, full of numerous tools and gadgets he had in his possession. Larry looked ahead at Ludwig's working desk, which was dimly lit with a few candles. But there under the faint light, an object caught his eye.

It was a machine of some sort, like a gun. It actually looked like a ray-gun from alien movies, as Larry would have put it. It was sitting on Ludwig's desk.

He slowly approached the desk to get a closer look at it. He lifted it up and examined it. It actually felt like it was made of a light metal or a plastic. Either way, it felt cool to him. He liked it, but he did not want to be caught in Ludwig's bedroom. He could only imagine the trouble he would be in then… not that he was not in that kind of trouble before.

But he liked this thing, he was always interested in Ludwig's inventions. They were always so… fascinating. But what he would not like ( like mentioned above ^-^ ) is to get caught in that room at that time. Larry could not be caught, it just was not like him. He was a very sneaky little bastard, and he had some confidence in himself, enough to tell himself that he was going to get the hell out of there before someone walked in on him. He snuck out of Ludwig's bedroom just as easily as he had snuck in. The only problem now was… he forgot that he was still holding Ludwig's invention in his hands.

He froze, staring at it. NOW what was he going to do?! He did not feel like risking to go back inside Ludwig's room, so he ran over to the end of the hallway and dropped it inside a giant flower pot. Okay, now he was glad that he no longer had to worry about that, problem solved. But now, another problem had arisen on him. For some reason, he did not feel right. It was as if he knew that something was going to happen, but what? He felt like he had forgotten something… or SOMEONE…

Where was Lemmy?

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Lemmy had continued walking down the hallway, still blabbing onto himself ( without realising it of course ) for a while already.

" I don't know… maybe we should stop for a bit again, Larry?" he asked. He then stopped shortly after he had not heard a reply. 

" Larry?" he asked again, then turned to see his little brother was not there. He jumped, panic-stricken.

" Larry!!" he called, looking around, and started running up and down the hallway. He looked in rooms, continuing to call his name. Where was he?

" Larry!! Where are you?!" he called frantically, and ran down another long corridor. He reached a set of stone stairs ( you know which ones I am talking about lol ) and stopped, panting and looking around desperately.

'_That little brat! Can't he do what he is told for even five minutes?!_' he thought.

" Larry!!!!" he yelled, " where are you!?!?!"

" Looking for Larry, Lemmy?" came the horrible, cold yet sweet voice from behind him. Lemmy slowly turned around, staring wide-eyed into Melinda's cool grey eyes. He nodded.

" Y-y-yeah… I.. I really need to find Larry.." Lemmy answered, forcing himself to smile up at her.

" Oh, what for? Why are you so panicky about finding him, dear?" she asked.

" B-because… um… one of his plants are dying!!" Lemmy suddenly blurted out. He then laughed nervously. She raised an eyebrow at him.

" Oookayy… well dear, I have not seen him at all today. It is as if he is hiding on me," she laughed. He laughed some more too.

' _Yes, that's right, Lemmy. Make this one big joke so she'll leave you alone.._' he thought.

" Well, in that case. I hope you find him soon then, Lemmy. Until then, I must be off," she said sweetly, and turned to leave. Lemmy, being quite relieved, turned also. He thought maybe he would go down the stairs to see if Larry took off down there. But as soon as he had turned, Melinda had glanced back to see him heading towards the stairs. She looked quickly from side to side, to make sure no one was nearby, and crept up behind Lemmy. With a little shove, the little koopaling went sprawling down the stairs. She then quickly skipped off.

" Whoa- shit!" Lemmy had suddenly yelled. He had felt a shove get him in the back and he had fallen down the stairs. He hit the landing hard, and let out a yelp of pain.

" Owww.." he groaned. The pairs of Roy and Morton and Iggy and Wendy had come running in from opposite doors.

" Oh no, you did it again?" Wendy said. Lemmy shook his head painfully.

" Okay… so you mean that this is real?" Roy asked. Then he laughed, " Serves you right for fakin' 'before." Morton stared down at Lemmy on the floor, then went to open his mouth.

" MORTON!! If you DARE say anything more about me having… Leukemia again, I swear I'll KILL you!!" Lemmy yelled, wincing as he tried to get up. Morton gave Lemmy a daring look, and then screamed, "LEUKEMIA!! LEMMY'S HAD A HERNIA, SOMEONE COME QUICK, I DON'T THINK HE HAS MUCH LONGER TO LIVE!!" Lemmy, now extremely pissed off, had tried to get up, but only collapsed in pain.

"OWW!!" he cried as he hit the floor again. Ludwig had then come running in.

" What is going on out here? What are you all yelling about?" He demanded. He looked down at Lemmy, " what happened to you?!"

" Uhh… I REALLY fell down the stairs this time?" he asked, chuckling. He guessed that maybe if he laughed, he would not hurt as much. Ludwig scanned around the room.

" How did you fall down the stairs?!" He demanded. 

" I… was pushed?" Lemmy guessed, " I felt something like a shove from behind."

" WHERE is Larry?!" Ludwig asked suddenly. The other koopalings all looked at each other and shrugged. Ludwig gave a furious look to Iggy and Wendy.

" You two go find him, NOW," he ordered, and then turned to Roy and Morton, " you two help me take Lemmy to his room." Ludwig had then turned back to Iggy and Wendy.

" Make sure he comes to Lemmy's room. All three of you can actually, we will ALL be there afterwards," he said. He then turned back to Morton and Roy and together, the three of them had carefully lifted Lemmy and carried him off to his bedroom.

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" Larry! Where were you!?" Ludwig asked as soon as Larry was dragged into the bedroom. Needless to say, Larry looked very reluctant to be there at that time.

" Well… uhh… I was in the castle… and I was somewhere… doing… um… I had to go do something…" he answered uncertainly. 

" And WHAT was so important to go do or see that involved abandoning your brother, your partner, the one I paired you with?!" Ludwig demanded.

" Well… uhhh… I was… looking at stuff…" he replied drifting off and staring down at the ground.

" AND, because of it, you left Lemmy alone, who… well, LOOK at him!" Ludwig scolded, pointing at Lemmy laying on his bed. Larry looked up at his injured brother laying there, then hung his head slightly.

" Ohh…" he said inaudibly.

" You left him, and because you left him, SHE found him, and SHE pushed him down the stairs!" Ludwig continued.

" Okay!!! I'm sorry.." Larry muttered, eyeing the ground again. Ludwig raised an eyebrow and gave him a sarcastic look.

" 'SORRY?!'… Larry, SORRY is just a word that is tossed around, it means nothing anymore! 'Sorry' does not fix anything that has happened here! If Lemmy was killed, 'sorry' would NOT bring him back, would it?!" Ludwig said. Larry shook his head, not looking up at his furious brother.

" No.." he answered.

" EXACTLY! Larry, I may seem like I am trying to boss you around, but this is for all of us, for our lives, it is not just for me or for bragging rights. This is like a game, a survival game. And the loser dies," Ludwig said, quieting down.

" Ludwig, you are not Dad or anything-" Iggy started.

" I did not say that, did I!?!" Ludwig snapped. Iggy jumped, then said no more. Ludwig then sighed and closed his eyes.

" I am not trying to boss anyone around. I am trying to keep us together. If we all work together and cooperate, and follow ORDERS," Ludwig directed the 'orders' part to Larry then, " we should be just fine. Sure, this idea is not the greatest right now. It only consists of us staying in pairs, but it will work until we have a plan, correct? But we have to stay in our pairs. You see what happened? Maybe we could use this as an example as to what can happen if one does not follow the plans at all. Melinda will most likely not attack one who is with another, rather than that one being by themselves. In a case, she might, but there are two of us there. There is one more against her, and sometimes, that makes a difference! But what happened here is that Larry left his partner, he left Lemmy. That made Lemmy vulnerable to Melinda for the fact that he was worrying about Larry at that time, rather than himself. And because he was alone, she attacked him, Larry was not there to help him. Maybe if Larry was there, it may have been different. She may have tried to push him down the stairs still, she may have backed off entirely, we do not know. But do you all see how important this is yet?!"

Larry still hung his head, and nodded, not saying a word. Not that he had anything to say anyway. He then looked up at Lemmy, who just smiled at him. Lemmy then extended his arm towards Larry.

" Hey, Larry, come here," he said. Larry very cautiously stepped forward. Lemmy had pet Larry on the head, still smiling.

" It's okay, Larry. At least I'm fine, right?" he said. Ludwig turned and gave Lemmy a scowling look.

" Lemmy, what are you doing?! You are just going to let this go?! You were seriously injured. What would have happened if you had broken a bone or more? Especially in your NECK! What then, Lemmy!?" Ludwig growled.

" I know, I know!" Lemmy rolled his eyes, " but I was just trying to encourage him.."

" You were encouraging him to do what?! What you are doing right now is encouraging him to do what he did again. You are to be encouraging him to NOT do that, but to listen to the orders he is given!" Ludwig snapped again.

" Okay, okay, Ludwig.." Lemmy quieted down. He could have thrown a wisecrack in there to lighten up the mood a bit… but then again, Ludwig was already mad enough. Ludwig then sighed.

" Fine then. All of you. If none of you really want to work with me, want to listen, work together to get rid of her before she gets rid of us, then let it be. But I swear, the last thing I will say to you is 'I told you so'.." Ludwig said, shaking his head. He then turned quietly and headed for the door.

" Don't go anywhere," came Roy's voice. Ludwig stopped and looked back at Roy.

" What?" he asked.

" I said… don't go anywhere. You're the one who is keeping us together so far. We don't have the fancy brains that you do, and you're older than us. It's not that we don't agree with you, we're just frustrated because we don't take orders from anybody but ourselves and Dad of course, and then there's you now, you're sorta new, you seem like you're trying to be the big man, like Dad, you know what I'm sayin'? And we're just not used to it. But yeah, we need you as a leader, because you're being just like our big bro should be like, you're watchin' over us and stuff," Roy said to him. Everyone stared at Roy. He did not really say that, did he? Ludwig stood there, and stared at Roy for some time himself before he said anything.

" Well… Roy… that… thanks," Ludwig said, astounded.

" Yeah… well, you know it's true. And if this conversation ever comes up again, I never said anythin' like that, got it?" Roy said threateningly.

" Sure, whatever Roy," Ludwig smiled. He then turned to his other siblings.

" Will you guys really cooperate with each other?" he asked them. They all had hesitated, but then nodded.

" I don't want to listen to you, Ludwig… but I don't want Melinda around," Wendy said glaring at a wall. Morton had suddenly jumped up.

" Yeah! Now we have formed a ssssecret alliance, it is something to be proud of, and why? Because now we have an army, a seven-person army, well temporarily 6 because one is injured, but our little sport will be back in action any day now, we just know it. And together we will overthrow the evil that sleeps within our castle, and no, it is not ourselves or our dear father either, because we are evil in the good way, but this evil is so evil that it may destroy us all and the fate of our family gets nearer and nearer with every day we waste! Sure, it won't be easy, but that's what teamwork is for, work as a team, we will destroy her before she completely annihilates us herself! And why? Because we'd rather live than die, rather sleep only 8 hours a day in our warm comfy beds rather than a whole 24/7 in a cold grave 6-feet under the soil, hence the reason why we call it '6-feet under'! Isn't that amazing?! That is truly-" Morton had started up again.

" Morton!! We are sure that THAT speech was probably more interesting to listen to than many of your previous ones, but this is no time for them!!" Iggy said, covering his ears.

" But part of what Morton said was true though," said Ludwig, " the fate of our family gets nearer and nearer everyday. The more time we waste, the sooner they will get married, and the sooner we can say good-bye to our home, and each other."

" Wow, Morton was actually right about something instead of him just blabbing on and on," Larry said, wide-eyed. Morton stuck his head up in the air triumphantly.

" Hmph. I TOLD you it was good to listen to me, but nooooo.. No one listens to little Morton Jr. do they? But NOW you do!!" he said happily.

" No we don't, Ludwig just mentioned that you made a point," Lemmy said, trying to watch everyone from where he was laying down. Larry looked over at Lemmy, and then hung his head again.

" I will never do that again, Ludwig," he said.

" Well, I can not believe you when you say you will NEVER do that again, but… we do not want it to happen again…" Ludwig replied. 

It was then that Ludwig had gotten an idea. His siblings' eyes brightened when they saw the mischievous grin on his face appear.

" Okay, what is it?" Iggy asked, now raising an eyebrow.

" Nothing. I was just wondering if Melinda has any weapons of her own that she will be planning on using against us, or is she using nothing at all, or anything in the castle maybe?" Ludwig replied, still grinning.

" Why should it matter?!" Roy asked, crossing his arms.

" Because… if she has anything that could be used as a weapon against us, anything that she has brought along with her… if we can find them, we will know what to watch out for, what to expect, right?" Ludwig asked.

" Oh, I get it. And she would most likely have them in her bedroom, maybe hiding so that no one knows what she has got," Lemmy said, smirking.

" Exactly. We should try to sneak into her bedroom and look for anything suspicious," Ludwig said, " now first, we need someone to go distract her, send her on a wild goose chase possibly, then get in her room and quickly search the room. If you find anything, don't touch it, but look at it, and tell us all about it afterwards. Memorize it the best you can, and when you get back, just report it immediately to us."

" But who is going to go in and investigate the room?" asked Lemmy.

" Well…" said Ludwig as he eyed Wendy and Larry, " Larry would be good because he likes to sneak into other peoples' things and get into trouble. But… Wendy, since she has the knack of memorizing even the most smallest details, especially in jewellery, such as how many karats are in one gold ring, she would probably be even better. She has such a keen eye for detail that if there was anything in Melinda's room, she would be able to tell us almost any physical detail about it."

" Finally, I'm getting the respect that I deserve!" Wendy said arrogantly, " but how will I distract her then?" 

" Well, we could still use Larry too, he could probably stall Melinda. He will send her out on a wild goose chase, and you, Wendy will sneak into her room. Besides, you are a girl too, it should be easier to navigate through her room for you," Ludwig said. The others all agreed. Finally, they had a plan.

" Okay, since Larry can not be here right now, then Iggy, I am going to ask you to stay here with Lemmy," said Ludwig. Iggy nodded, and then the rest of the koopalings opened up the bedroom door and headed out to leave.

They took the hallway down to Melinda's room. Ludwig, Roy, Morton and Wendy ( Wendy for the time being ) stayed back in a separate room, and watched from around the corner, while Larry walked over to Melinda's bedroom. He had caught her just as she was leaving her room.

" Melinda, come quick!! You **have **to come right now!!" Larry exclaimed. She raised an eyebrow at him.

" Why, Larry. Whatever do you need me for?" she asked. Larry hesitated, and thought about what to say.

" Um… you… you just have to come quick! Right now!!" he said again, and started pulling on her arm.

" Larry!!" she snapped, " darling, **_PLEASE_** tell me what you want!!" Larry stared up at her, astonished at her temper with him. She coughed and gave a little giggle.

" I am sorry, dear. What is it that you wanted?" she asked him again, in her normally sweet tone.

" Well… uh… it's… uh… Dad!! Yeah, it's about Dad… he… he needs you right now, because… um… because… he hurt his back!! And he needs you right away!!!! Come quick!!" Larry exclaimed again, and started pulling at Melinda's arm again. Her eyes went wide.

" Bowser is hurt? Oh, the poor dear! Where is he?!" she demanded. He took off running down the hallway.

" Come on!! It's this way!!!" he yelled as he bolted down the hallway. Melinda tried to follow him, but apparently had some difficulties because he was so much faster than her.

" Oh! Wait for me, Larry dear!" she called after him as she ran.

" Beautiful. Now you can go in, Wendy!" Ludwig said as Wendy cautiously looked about. She quickly sprinted into Melinda's bedroom.

Wendy looked around inside Melinda's room. It was all dark pink inside: Bedspread, curtains, everything. She walked over to the vanity and dresser. There were a lot of perfumes that she saw, and many different earrings. There was a brush, no there was not anything there that was even remotely suspicious. The only thing she found on there was the pendant with the gold chain on it. It seemed to be the only necklace that Melinda had. Wendy paid no attention to it ( though with all this stuff in here, she was so tempted to try everything out ) and continued on to the closet. She opened it up and started looking around inside. She opened up boxes, and only found old shoes and older beauty magazines that she obviously did not get rid of. Wendy, furiously had closed up the boxes again and looked around. She took a trip over to the bed, and looked under the pillows, on the night-stand and even under the bed itself.

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Larry had taken off down yet another hallway, with Melinda following him close behind.

" Larry, dear!! Where ARE you going?!" she called to him. Larry reached the end of the hallway, which, to his dismay was a dead end. He stopped to catch his breath, and to let Melinda catch up to him.

" You… you have to come!!" Larry cried. She caught up to him and started panting.

" Oh dear… honestly, Larry, do you need a MAP to find your way around the castle?!" she asked impatiently. Impatient… that was the mood that Larry hoped she was NOT in. He quickly turned around, wide-eyed.

" Yes!! A map!!" he yelled, " this castle is SO big, even living in here and being raised here, I have not memorized it yet!! Quick, let us go get a map!!!!" He took off under her outstretched arms and down another hallway. Melinda bit her lip and growled, then followed Larry again.

" Larry!! Come back here!!" she yelled. He continued running, and she continued following him. After another minute, she slowed down to a walk.

" Larry, I don't think you know what you are doing. Maybe I'll just go back and wait for someone else to show me the way to your father," she said, breathing deeply. She then turned to go back. Larry stopped suddenly, looked back at Melinda and then bolted down the hallway towards her. He then grabbed her arm and started pulling again.

" NO no no!! Melinda, I KNOW where it is!! I remember now, it's just down here, come quick you have to help Dad!!!" he yelled and started running down the hallway again. Melinda hesitated, then rolled her eyes and followed Larry again.

Larry had almost gotten out of this hallway when he ran smack into someone around Melinda's size. He fell to the floor, and when he looked up, he saw the face of his dad staring wide-eyed down at him.

" Larry, what are you doing?!" He asked him. Larry's eyes went wide with terror when he saw his dad standing there. Melinda caught up and confusion filled her face as she looked from Larry to Bowser.

" Bowser?! I thought you hurt your back!" she exclaimed.

" What?!" Bowser asked.

" I've been looking for you, well more like I was being led to you. I guess I'll just go back to my room now. But it was funny though, Larry had told me that you…" she trailed off when she looked around for Larry. But he was not there anymore. Bowser raised his eyebrow and looked around for Larry also, who was nowhere to be seen.

Larry had ran down the hallway quickly and quietly in a panicked way. He was sure he was going to have a heart attack soon, or pass out from how fast his heart was beating as he sped down the hallways, taking shortcuts along the way.

It was not long until Larry had came stumbling down the hallway at such an alarming rate screaming, " SHE'S COMING- SHE'S COMING- SHE'S COMING!!!!!!!!!!" He had ran so fast that his brain had not been able to send the message to his legs to tell him to slow down, for he ran right into the wall on the opposite side of the room.

" And he has run right into a wall, a VERY nice landing for little Larry Koopa, who has received an 8.2 in his fine entrance!" Morton suddenly announced, jumping out from around the corner. Larry shook the sense back into him and jumped up painfully.

" NO!! I'm serious, she's coming back right now!!" Larry yelled, terrified. Larry ran to Melinda's room and pounded on the door.

" WENDY!! Get out of there! Now!! She's coming back- she's coming back!!" Larry screamed through the door.

Inside, Wendy had jumped as soon as she heard the pounding on the door. Then she had heard Larry screaming in at her. She sprang to her feet, flung open the door and took off out of it. Larry slammed the door after her and then he, Wendy and Morton ran off to Ludwig and Roy, and together the five of them ran back to Lemmy's room.

Melinda had come walking down the hallway only seconds after the five koopalings had left. She was sure that she had heard noises, so she inspected the area. She had not found anything nearby, so she guessed that maybe it could have been just the echoing sounds of the little koopa troopas walking around the castle corridors. She honestly could not have cared less. She opened up her door and walked into her bedroom… but something was not right. Something did not feel right. She looked around her room, checking to see if everything was in its place. She thought she was probably dreaming, but she could not help but wonder that maybe someone was inside her room. 

It was just as she had shrugged off the idea when she looked down at the floor, and there lying on the floor, a shiny gold bracelet sat there. It did not look like any of the jewellery that she wore, and this bracelet actually would have fit someone much smaller. She picked it up and twiddled it in her fingers, then smirked.

" Wendy…" she said to herself. She knew that Wendy must have been in her room, for this bracelet was not her own, but it was small enough to fit her little wrists. But why would Wendy have been in her room? And what was even more strange was that she had not seen any of the koopalings almost all day, besides when they were in two's… except for Lemmy that was. And then they had left and she had not seen them all day. She then wondered what they were all doing. She thought then that maybe she would go 'check' on Lemmy, just to see if he was okay… or was he still laying there on the floor? She left her room, the bracelet cupped tightly in her hand.

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" Nothing?" Ludwig asked Wendy again for the third time. She shook her head.

" No. Nothing at all, nothing that I had seen," she said, crossing her arms. But she quickly uncrossed them, and kept moving the one arm about. She thought her arm felt very bare now. She had lost her bracelet somewhere. Her brothers told her she probably lost it on the way back up to Lemmy's room, so she would go look for it after, though she wanted it then and there. But Ludwig would not let her leave, even if she threatened to start screaming and throw a temper tantrum.

" Well, that sucks," Lemmy said, gazing up at the ceiling.

" You would have had more time, Wendy, but I ran into Dad," Larry said.

" I don't care," Wendy replied, and stared off at a wall. Ludwig then shook his head and sighed.

" Okay, that sort of went well… and it sort of did NOT go well," he said, " we got in the room, but Wendy did not have much time. What is worse is that she did not find anything in Melinda's room, which will make things harder for us to lose her. Because she already has the advantage, not only is she older, but she has seen all of your bedrooms. She knows what is in them, and what kind of weapons we have, IF we plan on using them, but she does not know that. But either way, she can expect from us, what we can not expect from her."

" What do you mean OUR rooms? She's seen ALL of them, Ludwig," Roy said to him. Ludwig shook his head at Roy.

" Not all of them… she has not seen mine. She does not know of any of the things I do in my bedroom, nor what I have in there. And usually when I leave my room, I will keep it locked now because I do not want her in my room. And that is because she had gotten really upset the one night when she wanted to see it. She got mad and left," Ludwig answered.

" Anyway, we should get out of here now anyway, Dad will probably wonder where we've been," Iggy said.

" I don't know, Iggy," Larry replied, " I really haven't seen much of Dad anymore. He's always with Melinda, and she's always making excuses just so we can't see him-"

" Shh!" Ludwig had shushed them suddenly. They all gave him weird looks. He pointed at the door, and put his finger to his lips as a sign for them to keep quiet.

" What's going on, what needs to be so 'hush hush secret secret?" Morton loudly whispered. 

" Shhhh!" Ludwig hissed at him, then said in a low voice, " someone is out there. Say nothing more about Melinda, stay in your pairs, we are going to have to think of another plan." They all nodded, then he walked up and opened the door. Sure enough, outside the door was Melinda, who stared blankly when she saw six of the koopalings standing on the other side of the door. 

" What… what are you all doing in here?" she asked, quite nervously.

" Oh, Lemmy has had a little accident today. So we have been in here all day keeping him company, poor guy, we have no idea what happened to him. Apparently he had tripped down the stairs again," Ludwig answered her. The other five koopalings nodded with agreement.

" Yeah, keeping Lemmy company, so he got to hear my speech about goldfish!" Morton exclaimed. Melinda peered into the bedroom where Lemmy was watching them. He waved over at her.

" I've been very clumsy lately, haven't I?" Lemmy called over to her.

" Yeah, we did not want to go fetch Dad this time, because it is obvious that you two are so busy preparing for your wedding, that we just took care of him ourselves," Iggy said proudly. She nodded, a bit confused, but she acted like she knew what they were talking about.

" Oh, well that is very nice of you, darlings," she said smiling.

" Anyway, can not talk now, we must be off," said Ludwig, smiling also. And with that, he headed down the hallway.

" Yes, Morton and I need to finish a starin' contest, ain't that right, Morton?!" Roy said, staring threateningly at Morton. Morton silently nodded, and the two of them left also.

" Actually, I was going to stay with Lemmy for a bit, he said he wanted help with… uh… stuff!" Larry quickly said and skipped off into Lemmy's room once more, closing the door. Iggy then turned to Wendy.

" Come on, Wendy… we got to um… squish those pesky goombas by the stairs! Geez, I bet you ANYTHING that's how Lemmy fell, he tripped over those damn goombas! What kind of cohorts are they, huh?!" he said, pulling her.

" Uh… yeah, exactly, and they're disgusting too!" she said, going to follow Iggy. But before they left, Melinda had grabbed Wendy's arm. She and Iggy jumped when they felt the little jerk that Melinda gave them when she pulled Wendy back. She opened up Wendy's hand and plopped her bracelet in it.

" Dear, I don't know why, but I had found this in my bedroom," she said, looking down at Wendy with suspicious eyes. Iggy and Wendy stared up at her, trying to keep their surprised looks off their faces.

" Are you sure you were in Lemmy's room all day, dear?" she asked Wendy. Wendy nodded, not saying anything. She wanted to say something, but it felt like something had squeezed her throat and kept her from talking.

" Yes…" she squeaked out finally, fingers shaking. She balled her fists to keep Melinda from seeing that she was shaking. Melinda stared at Wendy longer, and her eyes grew even more suspicious, but then she smiled coldly at her.

" Alright, dears. You both go off now… and squish those goombas…" she said slowly, eyes still on Wendy. She then turned and leisurely strolled down the hallway in the opposite direction. 

After Melinda had turned the corner, Wendy and Iggy stared at each other. Wendy then looked down in her hand and saw her bracelet. She had left it in Melinda's room. That meant that Melinda might not have even believed anything that they had just told her, about how everyone was in Lemmy's room all day long after he 'fell' down the stairs.

" Ludwig?" Iggy asked her. Wendy shook her head violently.

" Let's not worry about it… we can't have Ludwig worrying about it, we'll just fix it ourselves," she said, breathing deeply. Iggy did not like the sound of the idea, but he agreed.

" And if it does not work, THEN Ludwig?" he asked. She hesitated, then slowly nodded. The two of them each took a deep breath, and then went down and out the front door of the castle for a walk. Maybe the fresh air would help them think of how to fix this little problem.

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Jeshi: O-O!!! *gasp* WOW!! MY CHAPTER IS SOOOO LONG, I'M SOOOO PROUD OF MYSELF!!!! ^_______^

Larry: O_O!! WOW!!!

Jeshi: THIS IS MY **BEST** STORY I HAVE EVER WRITTEN ON FANFICTION.NET!! No, seriously people! It is my longest, and it is only 4 chapters long….^________________^ EVERY chapter so far is my longest! I'm SOOOOOO HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *dances around her bedroom* Oh!! I need to celebrate…**TIME TO WATCH "FINDING NEMO" AND "FOX AND THE HOUND" WHILE DRINKING TONS AND TONS OF ROOTBEER!! AND THEN PLAY SOUL CALIBUR 2 AFTERWARDS!!! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! ^____________________________________^**

Larry: O_O….

Jeshi: I SO hope to update soon!!!!!!! *continues dancing* Honestly, NO ONE knows HOW happy I am!!!!! ^_^ Even these stupid happy faces can't tell you!!!! LOL!!! XD  
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	5. Over the Roof?

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Jeshi: LOL!!!!! XD… a few replies to a couple of reviews… um… Kaira-chan… *laughs* that goofy monster with the bow on her head that spat eggs at you was not Wendy Koopa, but Birdo. Lol XD come to my house, I have Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour and I'll show her to you! ^-^ And to "The Link of Link" yes, indeed I like Soul Calibur 2 ^-^ Pretty much every character rocks, especially Ivy, Talim, Cassandra, and Nightmare. (in my opinion)

Larry: *tries to sneak away*

Jeshi: *pushes a button on a wall nearby. An iron cage falls on Larry* Sorry, dear. You can't go anywhere until you do the disclaimer. -_-;

Larry: O_O…Jeshi aka Yami Bakura's Wife does not own anything from Mario… can I go now?

Jeshi: *magically makes the cage go away* ^-^ Yes, indeed you may.

Larry: *runs*  
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Iggy and Wendy had taken a walk around the outside of the castle. The two of them remained completely silent as they walked, thinking about what to do. Ludwig had just fixed one problem, and they did not want him to worry about another too soon. Besides, they figured that if they fixed the problem themselves, Ludwig might respect them when it comes to being independent.

" So… now what?" Iggy finally had the courage to ask. Wendy had still looked completely shaken up from the events that had happened earlier, and stared at the ground as they walked.

" We think of a way to fix this," she answered shakily.

" But then what are we going to do?" he asked her. She was going to get mad and yell at him then, but when she thought about it, she really did not know what to be mad at him about. The fact that he basically just asked the same question twice in a row, or the fact that he was annoying her now? Or maybe it was because she honestly did not know what they were going to do. She had no plan whatsoever.

That was probably the only time in her life that she had ever regretted wearing jewellery, but that quickly changed again, because she had just then remembered how incredibly stunning she looked with it on. She looked down on the bracelet on her wrist. She would never lose it again, she promised herself that.

" I don't know," she finally answered, " I can't think as fast as Ludwig, can I?"

" Well, maybe we should just get Ludwig then?" he asked. She shook her head.

" No, we can do this on our own, all by ourselves," she said and stopped walking. Iggy stopped too and looked at her, she looked back at him.

Iggy had liked the idea of showing Ludwig that they could take care of themselves also, but he had also been afraid that something may go wrong. After the incident, he had at times, wondered about just sneaking off on Wendy to tell Ludwig about what they were going to do, and what had happened after they all had left. But then again, Ludwig might, like with Larry, lecture him because he would have left Wendy all alone. So instead he decided to just stick with Wendy's plan, and not say anything at all about it. 

They stood there still, looking at each other and thinking. What were they going to do?

" Maybe… what if…" Iggy started, " what if we just… forget about it?" Wendy raised an eyebrow and tilted her head to the side.

" What do you mean?" she asked him.

" I mean… what if we just… forget about what Melinda had said and done back in the castle… what if we just pretend that she did not ask about the bracelet, pretend that she did not question about anyone in her bedroom?" he suggested. Wendy stood there and pursed her lips together. She narrowed her eyes slightly, still looking at her brother, and thought about it. What if they DID just 'forget' about it? Maybe it caused no damage at all when it came to the honesty thing. Honestly, Melinda was so wrapped up already staying with their dad all day, trying to keep the seven koopalings away from him all day that she would have probably forgotten herself as well.

" Maybe…" she said, then looked up at the sky.

" It would be an idea… and Ludwig would not know anything about it at all, right? Just like you want?" Iggy said. She looked back at Iggy and nodded. It WOULD be a good idea, the two of them just forget, and never mention it at all to Ludwig, or anyone else for that matter.

" Sure, Iggy," she answered, " we'll just forget about it all. It never happened, she never said anything, she's not suspicious about anything." Iggy nodded.

" Okay, so that's it then…" he said, then looked around. He walked over to a loosely built wooden bridge over the lava moat around the castle. He looked down at it and smirked.

" Honestly… we shouldn't have this type of bridge here," he said, while eyeing the bridge. Wendy rolled her eyes at him.

" You idiot, we had the other stone bridge! But stupid Mario blew it up on us, remember?!" she snapped at him. He laughed.

" Oh, yeah! I remember that. Actually, it was Mario who ran out of the castle with Princess Toadstool again, we had then chased them, but right after they made it over the bridge, Luigi was the one who blew it up so we couldn't get across," he chuckled, " I bet you anything that stupid Luigi was outside all along, just setting up a bob-omb or some kind of explosive while Mario was goofing around inside the castle." Wendy for a split second was tempted to laugh herself, but then she glared at Iggy instead.

" And WHAT is so funny about that?! They got away!!" she screeched at him. He continued staring down at the bridge.

" Well, that's not what's funny about it… but what IS funny is the fact that we haven't repaired the bridge ever since…" he said, then started laughing. Wendy crossed her arms and gave him even more dirty looks.

" I STILL don't see what is so funny about it!" she growled.

" Nothing is funny about it… but… nevermind…" Iggy said shaking his head and smiling. Wendy sighed and rolled her eyes again. She honestly did not see what was so funny about their family's what it seemed like, 50 billionth defeat. And what was more was that Iggy seemed to find a joke in it, and it did not make sense to her whatsoever. It actually pissed her off.

She walked over beside Iggy and looked over the bridge and the lava moat. She saw two monsters swim around in it, and then looked back up and over the large poorly built bridge. Well, we can not really say it was 'poorly' built… but… it must have seen better days, but it had held on for so many years already. She walked up to it and made as if to cross it. Iggy suddenly pulled her back onto the land.

" What are you doing?!" he asked her. She gave him a surprised, yet furious look.

" What do you mean?!" she demanded, " I can go walk on the bridge if I want!"

" Are you mad!?" he yelled. He walked on to the bridge, and then turned back to Wendy, just a few feet from the flat ground.

" This is a crap bridge!!" he exclaimed, " it'll do nothing for you." Wendy glared at him.

" What do you mean it'll do nothing for me?! It's not supposed to do anything, you doorknob!!" she snapped at him.

" No! I didn't mean literally!!!" Iggy rolled his eyes, " what I mean is that the bridge is so old that it won't support very much anymore, it'll probably break!!!!"

" We just crossed it the other day when all of us went to the lake!!" She shrieked at him.

" I know that!!! But that was with Dad, that was with Ludwig, that was with Roy, that was with everyone else there who could help us if it broke!! But we're out here alone! ALONE, Wendy!! No one can help us in time if it breaks!" he answered.

" HOW could it break!?!??" she demanded.

" It's an old bridge!! It probably can not support your weight!" he yelled back at her. He then shut up suddenly. Wendy stood there, looking completely appalled, and her face turned red in rage.

" ARE YOU IMPLYING THAT I'M FAT?!?!?!?" She shrieked.

" NO no no!! That's NOT what I meant!! I meant that… because… it just might not support you, I'm only looking out for you, Wendy!!" he stuttered. She got even angrier and grabbed a rock nearby to throw at him. He went wide-eyed when he saw the rock, it being the size of her fist. He turned and took off running on the bridge. He stopped in the middle of the bridge before he turned around to face her again. She had not followed him on the bridge, but had stood on the land still, juggling the rock in her hand, glaring at him.

" I didn't mean it like that, Wendy!!!" Iggy called back to her, " what I meant was… what I had said before about the bridge!! A crap bridge!! See? Crap bridge!!"

As he said 'crap bridge', he had stomped on it with one foot, and alternated with the other when he said it again.

" You said it would break!!! You liar!!" she screamed at him.

" I KNOW that!! I know it will break someday, but it hasn't yet, has it? But I'm just making sure that you're safe though, and why? Because I'm older and I'm supposed to!!" he yelled.

" But… YOU said it would BREAK!!" she screamed again.

" I KNOW! I KNOW!! But it-" Iggy was suddenly cut off, for this time when he said " I know" he had jumped again on the bridge, but with both feet, which had broken when they landed, and he fell through, just grabbing the edge to make sure he did not fall in to the lava.

" IEEEEEEEEE!!" he cried suddenly. He then struggled to help himself up. As for back on the actual land, Wendy had started laughing hysterically at him.

" Oh, shut up!!!!" he yelled over at her, and continued to pull himself up.

" No, that was funny!" she said through fits of laughter, " and the way you screamed was even funnier!"

" Well, I TOLD you it was a crap bridge!" he yelled.

" Hey, shut up!!" she screamed.

" No!! Now come and help me, geez, you've done nothing else!" he yelled, slowly climbing up. Wendy crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him again. She then sighed… and then a smirk appeared on her face.

'_ Fine… I'll help you.._' she thought. She then walked up over to the beginning of the bridge and clawed at the ropes holding it up, causing the bridge to fall on the one end. She then crossed her arms again and laughed at Iggy.

Iggy was still trying to get up when he suddenly noticed he was swinging backwards on the bridge. He looked up panicky at Wendy.

" HEY!! WHAT'D YA DO THAT FOR?!?!?!?" he screamed as he smacked into the solid but warm earth wall behind him. He climbed through the hole in the bridge and used it as a ladder to climb up to the land on the other side of the moat. On the other side in front of the castle, Wendy was still cackling away.

" Have fun!?" she called to him. He glared at her.

" YOU CRAZY WITCH!! YOU COULD HAVE KILLED ME!!" he bellowed back. She smirked, and then started laughing again. He glared at her for another few seconds, then burst out laughing himself.

" Actually… that WAS fun!" he yelled over to her, and continued laughing. But when he looked back, it was not just Wendy standing there on the other side of the moat. Melinda had actually just walked out of the front door of the castle. Iggy's eyes had gone wide as soon as he had seen her. He waved frantically, trying to warn Wendy the best he could.

" Um… um… HI, MELINDA!!!" he screamed in the most friendliest tone he could. Wendy froze when she heard Melinda's name and quickly turned to face her.

" Oh!! Um… Hi, Melinda!" she said, smiling too, though she really just wanted to shudder at the sight of her.

" Wendy, dear. What are you doing out here?" Melinda asked her. Wendy shook her head.

" Nothing!! Nothing at all… Iggy and I were just…" she started.

" Squishing those 'pesky goombas' like you both told me you were going to?" she asked, a smirk appearing on her face. Wendy continued staring up wide-eyed at her.

" Well… actually, we uh… were really going to do that afterwards…" Wendy answered trailing off. Melinda smirked still, but then gave a cold and hurtful look.

" Let's see now… that has been Ludwig… then Lemmy of course… and then Iggy AND you," she said, counting it out on her fingers as she spoke. Wendy gave her a confused look. Melinda shook her head, frowning.

" Don't look at me like that, dear," she said, " that's not polite. And what's more is that you are doing it again."

" Doing what again?" Wendy asked, still confused.

" Lying to me, Wendy dear. Lying. If it's anything I can't stand it's liars. Such as Ludwig, he said you were all in Lemmy's bedroom all day. THAT was a lie, Lemmy backed him up, that was lie also, then Iggy told me that you and him were going off to squish those goombas, but instead you took off somewhere else, out here. And you told me that you were not in my bedroom. Honestly, do you all not trust me or what?" she said grimly, eyes fixed sternly on Wendy. 

Wendy felt all shaky inside. She continued staring up at Melinda, not knowing what to do.

" We… we did not say that, did we?" she answered shaking her head. Melinda gave her a sarcastic look.

" If you don't trust me, then why don't you just say something? Rather than lie to me," Melinda said.

" We didn't say that we didn't trust you, did we though?!" Wendy replied, raising her voice slightly.

" Don't raise your voice with me, Wendy. Now just tell me the truth, what have you all been up to all day, what were you doing in my room?" Melinda asked.

" I wasn't in there!! We were in Lemmy's room all day, honestly we were!! I wasn't in your bedroom!" Wendy snapped.

" Then why are you getting so defensive about it suddenly?" Melinda asked coldly. Wendy stared at Melinda, who calmly looked back down at her… but only in a more scary way. Wendy had suddenly felt sick, and she still did not know what to do. Maybe it would have been better if they would have told Ludwig right away what had happened after they left.

" I'm not… I just…" Wendy stumbled to find something to say.

" Yeeees? What is it, Wendy?" Melinda asked.

" I… I'm going inside now.." Wendy muttered softly.

" What was that?" Melinda asked her, and raised an eyebrow.

" I said… I'm going inside now!" Wendy said, raising her voice much more this time. She then stomped off past Melinda and into the castle, leaving the door open. Melinda gave a slightly frustrated look and followed behind Wendy.

" Wendy… come back here!" she called after her, and closed the door.

On the other side of the moat, Iggy stood there, wide-eyed and horrified. He was alone… but it did not matter… because it was not HIM who was being stalked by Melinda at that point in time! He felt like he had to do something, before Melinda had caught up to Wendy, wherever she was headed. He went to run, but then realised that the bridge was now out. NOW how was he supposed to get across?!

" Dammit!!" he cursed out loud. He then searched around frantically for something, anything. He then noticed that some of the windows in the castle were open… but then again, they usually were. He then hoped that after this he was not going to have laryngitis or anything.

" LLLUUUUDDDWIIIIGG!!!" He suddenly screamed, hoping that he would hear, " LUDWIG!!! ROY, LEMMY ANYONE!! HEY!!" As he was screaming, he ran around looking for a way to get across the moat again and back to the castle.

" **HEY!!!!**" he screamed again. He had gasped for air, he was not doing well for breathing in between yells.

" **SOMEONE, C'MON!! HEEEELLLP!!!**" he bellowed. He continued his screaming, and did not stop even when his throat got sore. What seemed like after forever ( though it was maybe only a minute ), Ludwig had appeared at a window, and looked out of it curiously, obviously to see what all the noise was about. He gave a weird look to Iggy when he saw him across the moat, the destroyed bridge… and by himself?!

" Where's Wendy?!?!?" he yelled suddenly. Iggy swallowed hard, trying to gather saliva in his throat to hopefully soothe it from the sore. He had jumped up and down and waved his arms about in a panicked way.

" WENDY!! **WENDY!!!**" was all that Iggy needed to scream before he saw Ludwig speed away from the window. Iggy tiredly had fallen on his back, but then got up only seconds after, and resumed his search for a way across to the castle.

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When Ludwig had seen Iggy so upset and screamed Wendy's name, he knew something was wrong. He had indeed bolted from the window and down the hallways of the castle, glancing in almost every room as he passed as quickly as possible.

On his way he had ran into Roy and Morton who had given him very puzzled looks. He ran passed them, but tapped on Roy's shoulder as he passed.

" Look for Wendy!!" Ludwig called as he continued running. Morton and Roy had stood there for a second, as if they were very slowly taking in what Ludwig had said. Then, they too had started on a frantic search for Wendy.

Ludwig had run up and down sets of stairs, checked in every closet, dungeon, even in Wendy's bedroom. He could not find her anywhere. He ran out into the large sitting room and looked even behind furniture, again she was nowhere to be found. Maybe Iggy knew where Wendy could have went? He decided that he would go out to see Iggy. He ran out of the front doors of the castle and to the edge of the land and then stopped, remembering the bridge was no longer there.

Iggy was sitting across the moat still, only very paranoid looking.

" Iggy!!" Ludwig called to him. Iggy jumped to his feet and started waving his arms around again.

" Did you find her?!! You gotta find her!!!!" Iggy screamed. Ludwig violently shook his head.

" No, would you know where she could have gone?!" Ludwig yelled back. Iggy shook his head so hard that his glasses fell off. He quickly bent down and picked them up. He sat them back on his face and looked up at the enormous castle worriedly again. His eyes then went wide and he pointed up at the castle.

" Ludwig!!! LUDWIG!!! Up there - up there!!!!!" he yelled. Ludwig quickly looked up himself and faintly saw Wendy's horror-stricken face looking over the edge of the castle from the top. Ludwig had sped off into the castle again and up the stairs, knocking over everyone who was in the way as he went.

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Wendy had run up to the roof of the castle, thinking that if she took all the twists and turns in the hallways, she would be able to hide from Melinda for a bit before she could go back down and help Iggy get across the moat. But that did not work obviously. She had gotten up to the huge doors that led out to the roof and looked around, Melinda had not been anywhere nearby so she had gone through, sure that she was safe from her. But then after she had gone through the doors, Melinda had suddenly gone through the doors herself. Maybe could she have seen Wendy go in just as she turned a corner or something? 

Wendy had run off to the edge of the huge roof and looked down. It was quite a drop if she jumped, or if she pulled a Lemmy and was pushed off. She looked back at Melinda who had quietly and slowly approached her. 

" Wendy… I don't want you to run from me.." she said, staring sympathetically at her. Wendy had felt so scared that she was sick now.

" Well, what do you want then?" Wendy asked, trying to sound more confident than she felt.

" The truth, dear… the truth never hurt anybody as long as they don't lie," Melinda answered, eyeing her spookily again.

" I wasn't in your room, I wasn't doing anything but sitting in Lemmy's bedroom all day and talking to him with my other brothers," Wendy said, staring up at her still. Melinda's face dropped a little, and frown seemed to appear. She narrowed her eyes slightly and took another step closer to Wendy.

" Dear… I really do not think you have gotten the point yet," she said, " listen. I know you were in there. That bracelet sitting there on my floor was not mine, it was much too small for someone like me to wear, as for you, you are the only other girl in the castle, you are the only one who would and DOES wear a bracelet that looks just like the one I found in my bedroom. And now, tell me what exactly you were doing in there, and where were your brothers at that time, and what they were all doing and WHY, please." Wendy still stood there, staring at her, frozen as she seemed to be. She shook her head slightly.

" I- I'm not lying!" Wendy had answered. Melinda shook her head and sighed.

" Wendy…" she said very sternly. She took another step towards Wendy and slowly reached her hand out. 

" Wendy!! THERE you are!" came Ludwig's voice from behind Melinda. Melinda had slightly jumped and turned around to face Ludwig. Wendy was so scared yet relieved that she was ready to start screaming.

" Oh, Ludwig. How nice of you to join us… we were just looking at the stars from up here, you get a much nicer look from up here at sunset," Melinda said sweetly to him. Ludwig laughed.

" Yeah, right," he said sarcastically, still laughing as he walked forward and grabbed Wendy by the hand, "come on, Wendy. You left Iggy down there without a bridge to get across and now he's stranded. You need to come back and help him." Wendy, still wide-eyed had nodded and was able to force herself to walk with Ludwig. Melinda glared at them as they left. She gave an even more dirty look at Ludwig. That rotten kid had gotten in her way again. Why could he not have just died the first time?! And now because he was still around he was helping his little siblings. Oh well, he could not be there for long to help them, could he? There were six children besides him, there was NO way he could look after all six could he? Being sure that he could not, she too had ventured back into the castle, still quite angry at Ludwig for interfering.

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Ludwig had walked around until he had found Roy and Morton and had told them that he had found Wendy. Then, he and Wendy had walked back outside the front of the castle. There, Wendy had explained what had happened with the bridge, and what had happened with Melinda. So, she knew that they were all lying to her now, did she? 

He was not very impressed by that, and now it meant that getting rid of her first was going to be harder than he thought. Maybe if they could just get a hold of their dad for even a few minutes, him even talking to Bowser for even a minute would probably be enough. But their dad was not anywhere anymore. He was always so busy, too busy for them. And what was he doing when he was not with Melinda? He was in the castle somewhere, was he not? Or was he out? They never knew anymore, and now it was starting to annoy Ludwig. He was abandoning his own children now because of some woman who was trying to kill them! But then again, their dad did not know, which irritated Ludwig even more. He had to tell their father one way or another, and soon, because time was very valuable now to them.

Ludwig and Wendy sent paratroopas across the moat to help Iggy over, and then Ludwig ordered them to get to work to make a bridge right away, at least until they could make up another one that was even better… and hopefully it would not be cut down or blown up by one of the Marios.

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After, Ludwig had had another meeting in Lemmy's bedroom. He had to have it in there, for the simple fact that Lemmy still could not get up after the events that had happened earlier that day. 

" She knows that we were lying to her today," Ludwig had started. He looked around at all of them, and they all just gave him wide-eyed stares again. It seemed like for the past few days, the whole 'wide-eyed' look seemed to be very fashionable for the face. ( a/n: But ain't it CUTE?! ^-^;;; )

" But how would she know? Let alone find out?" Lemmy asked.

" It's simple, dumbell," Roy answered him, " she's obviously smarter than she looks!" Ludwig raised an eyebrow at Roy and continued.

" Yes, thank you, Roy. She is smarter than you would think she probably would be. That is not a bad thing, but it certainly is not a good thing either. But no matter what, staying in your pairs now is a very vital thing. Time is also a very valuable thing. I have come to the conclusion that the only easier way that we are going to get rid of her first is if we just tell Dad. We have some evidence already of what she has been doing, now all we have to do is find the time to talk to Dad, a time where he is alone, and not with Melinda, and certainly when he is not busy at all," Ludwig said. Roy rolled his eyes at Ludwig.

" Oh yea, and WHEN do you say we do this then, brainiac?!" he replied.

" That is why I said we have to FIND the time," Ludwig growled at him, " anyway. I will try to talk to Dad when the time comes. I only need even a few seconds, and I am sure that I can convince him to reconsider marrying Melinda, or at least for him to try talking to her. Because things already have not been going well." Larry had suddenly gotten a smile on his face.

" Well, we can't give up now, until we can find Dad and get him to listen, we have to come up with another plan, and hope that that works," Larry had said still smiling, " and I think that we should find out why she doesn't like **us**. We could even get Kamek to help us!"

" That's the bad thing there, actually. Kamek has been gone for a while now, gone for days already, where he is? We don't know!" Morton answered, " maybe he was not joking when he said that he was really going to leave on us, or is he playing a game? It could be anything! Anything, everyone! It could even be some kind of joke that only old people think is funny and assume that we younger people will get heart attacks from, but you know we won't! That's because….. Because… uhh… ummm…" Morton then started wondering exactly how it was possible for one who is young to not get heart attacks. ( a/n: Of course anyone can at any age, actually lol. Depends on your health ^-^ )

" Actually, that could be an idea," Ludwig said, " but then again, she might lie to us. I would think that the safest approach would be to go maybe three people just to see what is her problem with us. In the meantime, I will go find Dad, because you will be stalling her. I guess I shall send Larry, Morton and Wendy to go interrogate her, while Roy and Iggy watch from a distance in hiding, just in case they need help at all. And then… Lemmy will stay laying around in bed until he gets better… ( at this time, Lemmy had rolled his eyes and sarcastically said, " Oh joy..") And of course, while all that is happening, I shall be trying to find Dad and talk to him, as I have said."

They had all nodded in agreement and then separated again for the night.

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Jeshi: Yay! Chapter 5 is finished!! ^-^

Larry: O_O…. and that's a good thing?

Jeshi: *nods* But you know what's sad? O-o.. the fact that Lemmy hasn't been on that damned ball for who knows how long!

Larry: *sarcastic* Gee, I wonder why? Maybe it's because for the past 3-4 chapters you've had him HANDICAPPED!! _

Jeshi: T_T He was only faking for chapters 2 and 3! u_u but it's true… ^-^ Good thing I make it up to him!

Larry: O_o? What now?

Jeshi: _ Nothing…  
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	6. Why Does She Hate Us?

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Jeshi: Aha!! Ahahahaha!! ^-^ Now to start on chapter 6 FINALLY, after good ol' Kitkatz has been educating me on only the things I DIDN'T know about the koopalings… and she sent me pictures and some voice clips, you peoples want some, ask her!! ^-^ She's so nice! *listens to Ludwig's (Kooky) laugh* ^-^ HEEHEE!! THAT IS **SO** ADORABLE!!!

Larry: O_O… are you okay? I mean… you just said that my older brother was adorable… or more likely his voice.

Jeshi: ^-^ *nods* Hai, ish perfectly fine! And yes, it's adorable, he's adorable, you're adorable, hell, ROY is adorable!!!! ALL OF THE KOOPALINGS ARE ADORABLE!! *glares* and NO ONE will say otherwise!!! *glares at Kaira-chan* DON'T even dare….lol ^-6

Larry: O_O….um…^_^ She doesn't own anything from Mario?

Jeshi: No, no I don't…T_T…OOOH!!! I LOVE that laugh!! I'm going to start laughing like Ludwig Koopa!! ^______________^

Larry: O_O You're kidding, right?

Jeshi: *shakes head* Nope! I'm going to start laughing like him! Kaira-chan's probably scared now, because now she'll have to go to school with me…of course we have no classes together but…O-O…HAHAH!! RABAB IS DOOMED, KAIRA-CHAN!! DOOMED!! AND BRYNDON!!!^_____^ Okay, I'm done with my overly long disclaimer…u.u  
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Later afternoon had hit, and the koopalings sat around waiting, quite impatiently for Melinda to appear somewhere. They all stayed together in one large room, none of them leaving all day long. The other problem that they had not thought of was **when** Melinda was going to be alone, leaving Bowser for even ten minutes.

So, ( as said before ) they waited impatiently all day long. Ludwig had already figured that the stupid thing was to be together all day and not even bother to go venture around the castle to find Melinda themselves, but he also figured it to be a good thing too, because then when they found her, they could get this done and over with quick.

At long last their 'prayers' had been answered, and they had spotted Melinda walking along a dark corridor and into a rather large room. It actually looked to be like a living room. Iggy and Roy did as they had been told the day before and stayed hidden, but watched carefully as Larry, Morton and Wendy took off after Melinda. As for Ludwig of course, he left to go find Bowser.

" Melinda! Hi, Melinda!" the three little koopa children called after Melinda. Melinda stopped quite reluctantly and turned to face the three koopalings that now stood before her, each smiling cute and innocent looks.

'_They must be up to something…_' Melinda thought to herself, and slightly smiled back down at them.

" What is it, children? I am VERY busy right now," Melinda answered, trying to sound a bit tired.

" Oh, nothing… we were just wondering what you were doing," Larry answered, toeing at a stone in the floor. Melinda raised an eyebrow at him.

" Your father and I are very busy planning our wedding right now, darlings… why, have you forgotten already?" she asked. Larry looked very surprised suddenly ( a/n: or sarcastically, take your pick! Lol ) when he looked up and exclaimed, " Really?! It seemed like you two were already married!" Melinda gave him quite a flattered look and laughed.

" How come we never get to see Daddy anymore?" Wendy suddenly asked Melinda. Melinda stood there and stared long and hard at Wendy. She was surprised that Wendy was even attempting to talk to her after what had happened yesterday. Actually, Wendy did not want to even be near Melinda at that time, she wanted to see their dad instead.

" He's really busy, Wendy," Melinda answered. Wendy shook her head.

" But he's never seen us for the longest time! And you haven't done anything with us for the longest time either…" Wendy pouted. Morton and Larry nodded in agreement with Wendy. Melinda looked down at the three of them, completely confused with what to say. 

" Well… uh… we'll have plenty of time to play after the wedding, dears," she answered uncertainly. Larry then sighed and smiled up at Melinda in awe.

" It's nice that Dad wants to marry you… even though you aren't royal in any way. Not like Princess Toadstool…" he said, trailing off purposely. He turned away from Melinda and looked at a painting of the castle behind him. Melinda gave him an appalled look. How dare he speak to her like that! But then again, what did he mean anyway? Who cares if she was not royal in any way… but who was Princess Toadstool?

" What do you mean?" she asked curiously, raising her eyebrow. Morton and Wendy both gave Larry questionable looks, but Larry never noticed. He just smirked when he heard Melinda's question, thinking, '_hehehehe, I knew you wouldn't be able to resist…_' he turned back to her with an innocent, yet convincing look on his face.

" Oh, nothing… besides that… well… there's something you should know about our dad… he kind of likes the whole 'royals should marry royals' kind of stuff… he's really big on that. But then again, it makes him look good as a king to have a queen, so he may be just desperate in a time like this. But… you know Princess Toadstool from the Mushroom Kingdom, right? Have you ever wondered WHY he always tries to 'kidnap' her?" Larry asked her, smugly. Melinda's face grew more quizzical, and before she could answer Wendy had continued on from where Larry left off.

" Yeah… Daddy actually wanted to marry a princess, and believe me, lady. YOU'RE no princess!" Wendy said mockingly. 

Melinda was ready to just smash something over their heads right now, especially Wendy. She swear she could actually feel her eye twitching, and she knew that they must have been able to see it too. They had these smiles on their faces… and they were not innocent smiles either. They were more like the smiles that little trouble makers would give. Like little devilish smirks. The little brats, how she loathed them. They were purposely trying to get her mad!

" Oh… h-how… nice…" Melinda replied, using up almost every ounce of patience that was in her. ( if there WAS any left that is ) She forced a sarcastic smile and said, " okay then, dears… I… really need to go right now.." She had then turned to leave.

" Do you not like us?!" Morton suddenly blurted out. Larry and Wendy's eyes grew wide at Morton, who just stood there smiling as Melinda froze for a few seconds, then slowly turned around with a surprised face herself.

" W-what?!" Melinda exclaimed. Morton just nodded and continued to smile.

" Would it happen to be the way we look? The way we act? The way we walk, the way we talk the way we smell, or the way that we clean the castle?!" Morton exclaimed. Wendy rolled her eyes at him.

" WE don't clean the castle, you nit-wit!" she said.

" Oh yeah…" said Morton, then he turned back to Melinda.

" Well, you're always leaving and you always leave with our dad too, and we never get to see him, and when we do you always get us to leave somehow so that you can be with him without us around, and your eye is twitching, why is it twitching? Is it because you are stressed out, what is bothering you? Is it because we are not calling you 'Mother?' or is it because you would not like it if we called you 'Mother?' Or do you just not want us around at all and all that weird stuff that is so hard to explain that you need our freakishly older and smarter brother Ludwig to say it all or is there a way for us to sound out all the very hard words?" Morton continued, then took a big deep breath of air ( seeing as how he had not paused for quite a bit to catch his breath ), " huh?" Melinda blinked and gave him an uncanny look. Larry slowly directed his attention to the floor and had to bite the inside of his lip to keep from laughing. Wendy played with her claws on her hands and in the meantime, Morton just kept smiling up at Melinda. Melinda stood there, so shocked and completely speechless for words. They must have been there for at least three minutes in silence before she said anything.

" I… I didn't say that, did I, Morton?" she said, then smiled, " but… I'll tell you WHAT I don't like. I don't like… nosy children…. VERY nosy children… and lying children at that. Now that I have answered your question, it's time to answer one of mine… what has little Ludwig been doing lately? He seems to be acting quite strange, and is always gone."

" Oh, oh Ludwig… well… he's always like that," Larry answered, smiling somewhat nervously, but quickly got some confidence, " yeah… he always hides out in his bedroom and does not want to be around with us…"

" Yeah, and as for strange… Ludwig has always been strange…" Wendy added. Melinda raised an eyebrow at them, then sighed.

" If you would like me to be honest… you children are liars. BIG ones," Melinda said impatiently.

" But we weren't lying about the strange part," Larry whispered to Wendy. Wendy nodded. Melinda then pointed an accusing finger at Larry.

" Especially YOU, dear Larry. I have had enough of your little lies and games you've been playing. First you told me that your father's back was injured, then you lead me around the castle pretending to not know where you were going, then when we ran into your father, you snuck off. For your information, I could hear you yelling down the hallway, about what I was not sure. But it is pretty obvious that you might have been warning a certain someone to exit a certain room of mine," she looked over at Wendy then, " and the running of your feet was obviously the sound that I had heard when I entered the hallway. Once I entered the room, guess what I had found on the floor. And now, what were any of you doing in my bedroom? Did your brother Ludwig send you to do it?" Larry shook his head.

" Nope," he answered. Melinda's face fell and she gave a very irritated look at him. He grinned stupidly and had to fight to keep from laughing at the look on her face when he had lied to her yet again.

" What if he did?" Morton asked. Wendy and Larry shot him stunned looks again. Melinda was ready to yell, " Aha! I knew it" but before she could, Morton continued.

" And what if he didn't?… You would never know, technically we don't even know for ourselves! Have you ever stopped to think that maybe we are a little YOUNG to have such knowledge, to be kept with such secrets and confidential information?!" Wendy smiled when she heard Morton say this, he was actually confusing and annoying Melinda even more.

" …Have such knowledge at a young age? You mean… what you're trying to say is… you don't KNOW if your brother set you up to do something like that? You don't even KNOW if you even listened, if you even did it, even though you have brain of your own and can use it for yourselves. You were wide awake, and right there, but you don't KNOW if he sent you to go into my bedroom?!" Melinda asked, exasperated, " and further more, since WHEN is it confidential?! You not knowing whether you did something or not is CONFIDENTIAL!?" Morton nodded.

" Yes," he replied. Melinda shook her head, now very annoyed. Larry looked out a window and stared. They weren't getting anywhere with this. They were just getting her mad, even though it was fun. He then smiled when he had gotten an idea. Ha, Melinda obviously thought that she knew Larry and his lies inside out, right? Heheh…WRONG. If she thought that she was not going to fall for another one, then she had another thing coming… literally. He slowly walked up to the window.

" Larry? Larry what are you doing?" Melinda asked him. She went to take a step forwards, but Morton had suddenly grabbed her hand and pulled her the other way, then around in a circle over and over again.

" Hey, I like dancing, MOM, don't you?" Morton said happily, still spinning around, " it's fun, but not if you hurt yourself, so don't trip over your own feet. I don't have two left feet so I won't fall, do you have two left feet? Have you even been dancing before? If so, what was it like? Was it fun, was it exciting? Was it like flying, did it have a specific taste at all? Did you get free waffles there? Where was it? A wedding? Was there cake? I like cake, don't you? It's so interesting, just all the many layers you can have on it, it reminds me of a wedding, which reminds me of dancing, by the way… I like dancing, don't you? It IS fun, but not if you hurt yourself. Be careful not to trip over your own feet. I don't need to worry, because I don't have two left feet…" ( a/n: if I must tell you, he DID repeat everything he said.. XD )

" Morton!! What are you doing? Let me go, stop it, you're making me dizzy. You just said that! And that! Morton, quit repeating yourself!" Melinda snapped, getting very upset now. Wendy then ran up and grabbed Melinda's other hand and together they both twirled around and around with her.

Larry had walked up to the window and looked out while Melinda was being twirled around and getting even more annoyed by the second. He looked around until he found the group of Chain Chomps outside. They were attached to their posts… and their posts were close to the castle, more closer to the window he was standing at. Excellent. He reached a hand out of the window and snapped his fingers. He caught the attention of one Chain Chomp, who just gave him a questioning look. He looked out the window and made faces at the Chain Chomp, still snapping his fingers. The Chain Chomp barked and ran around in circles. Larry quickly glanced back at Melinda, Morton and Wendy, then looked back at the Chain Chomp. He motioned the Chain Chomp the command "come" with his hand ( kinda like a doggy… ^-^ ). The Chain Chomp's eyes grew slightly wider ( a/n: I don't know, whenever I call my dog, he does the same thing… except it's not his eyes… his ears raise a little… as annoying as my dog is, I actually find that kinda cute… XD lol, the smelly beast ) and it started charging towards Larry and the window, barking. Larry smiled when he saw the Chain Chomp coming, and started running around in the room.

" AHHHHHHHHH!! THE CHAIN CHOMPS HAVE GONE MAD, THE CHAIN CHOMPS HAVE GONE MAD!!! RUUUUNNN!!!!" Larry yelled as he ran around the room some more. Morton and Wendy stopped twirling around and gave Larry weird looks. The Chain Chomp had then slammed into the wall, apparently trying to fit through the window, barking loudly. Morton and Wendy had then ran out of the room screaming. Melinda shook herself out and ran out of the room also, wobbling along the way. Larry laughed as soon as he was left all alone in the room. He then approached the window where the Chain Chomp was still attempting to fit through the window. He reached a hand out and pet the Chain Chomp.

" Heheh, good boy," he said smiling. He had then followed out into the room where Wendy and Morton had run off to. Fortunately, he did not have to go very far to find them, they had just run off to the other room where Roy and Iggy were. They were busy yelling about the Chain Chomp and about how Larry was still in the room… supposedly. When Larry walked in, they all started yelling at him.

" LARRY! Why didn't you run?!!?!" Wendy shrieked at him. Larry laughed nervously.

" Well… actually… it was all a… uh… set-up?" Larry said, and watched his siblings' faces twist in anger. Roy suddenly came up and slammed Larry against the wall.

" YOU MEAN TO SAY THAT YOU HAD US ALL WORRYIN' OVER NOTHIN'!?!?" Roy screamed. Larry's eyes went wide with fear. Roy wound up his fist ready to soc Larry in the face.

" But..but but- It was Iggy's idea!!" Larry suddenly blurted out. Roy glared at Iggy.

" WHAT?!!?!" Roy screamed again, ready to go punch Iggy instead. Iggy's eyes went wide and he glared at Larry.

" What?!-NO!!" Iggy yelled defensively. Roy stomped his feet angrily.

" Why don't I just punch out the both of ya?!!?" he yelled.

" Why not Iggy?" Larry suggested.

" Why not Larry?!" Iggy sent the suggestion back the other way.

" Why not BOTH?!" Roy shifted his eyes between the two.

" Because I'm younger and cuter, and if you beat me up I'll be un-cute!" Larry said, then laughed nervously again.

" You can't hit a guy with glasses!" Iggy said proudly adjusting his glasses on his face. Roy smirked at both of them.

" You were never 'cute' in the first place, and.." Roy said then reached over and snatched Iggy's glasses off his face, " NOW ya don't…"

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The first place that Ludwig had decided to go was the throne room. Fortunately for him, his father was there, sitting on his throne staring off up at a chandelier that hung high overhead. He quickly but quietly approached his father and had cleared his throat in order to catch his attention. Bowser looked down at him, and Ludwig looked up at Bowser. They stared a few minutes at each other, it was as if they had not seen each other in years. Finally, Ludwig spoke.

" Dad… I would like to request a word with you, really quickly, please," Ludwig said, " it is really important." Bowser had suddenly jumped out of his throne.

" I have something important to ask you myself, Ludwig," he said, " I have been very busy lately, and I need to speak to Kamek right away, would you know where he is at this time?" Ludwig shook his head.

" No, Dad. I haven't seen very much of him lately… he's probably out right now, checking over his spell books and stuff," Ludwig answered. Bowser shook his head also.

" Very well then, off with you," Bowser said and turned around to head back to his throne. 

" But, Dad… I never got to talk to you yet," Ludwig said giving him a disbelieving look.

" What about, Ludwig? Make it quick," Bowser plopped down into his throne again.

" Okay, that's all I need, is at least a minute. Anyway, it's about Melinda-" Ludwig started. Bowser had suddenly jumped out of his throne again, panic-stricken.

" Oh no! I have to go find Melinda!" he stared long at a wall, and then sighed and rubbed his forehead, " uggh… Melinda says that I've been working too hard, and that I should take a few days' vacation away from the castle alone to settle my stress." Ludwig's eyes went wide.

" On a vacation?! Alone?!" Ludwig asked. He could not believe this, they were going to be left alone with Melinda?! Bowser nodded his head.

" Yes, I have had too many problems to deal with already. But it'll be good for you and your brothers and sister, you will get to know Melinda a little bit more because I won't be here," Bowser said. He then left to the door. Ludwig shook his head, he did not want to be home alone with Melinda and his siblings… none of them wanted to be around without their dad for that matter.

" Dad, wait!!" Ludwig called and ran after Bowser. Bowser had exited the room and closed the door behind him saying, " I'm busy, Ludwig. We'll talk later." Ludwig stood alone in the large and empty throne room. He could not believe this, his own father was so into Melinda that he had no time for his own son. He could understand being the king of the koopas and having a huge koopa kingdom to rule over, but when a woman got in the way, it seemed to be much worse. And even Ludwig was starting to have trouble thinking around this. 

He was angry with the fact that he could not speak to his father, he was angry at his father for worrying more about Melinda than his children, he was angry at Melinda for even showing up, and now he was angry at himself, WHY did he just let his father leave on him like that?! This was very important and he just let his dad leave without even a thought of going after him and demanding that he listen to him as a parent should listen to their children. He sat on the floor of the throne room and looked around. He remembered when Melinda had not been around, how this very room always seemed so friendly to him. But now it seemed as though there were some kind of darkness in it. It actually made him quite uncomfortable to be in, even with his dad around. Maybe it was because his dad now looked like some kind of sleepless zombie? He never knew, and right now he did not care. He slowly got up and strolled very leisurely out of the room, staring down at the floor on his way.

He walked down one of the dark corridors disenchanted, and still staring at the floor. He then heard the voices of Bowser and Melinda talking in a room nearby. He slowed his walk down and crept up to where a door was open just a crack. He peered inside and saw Melinda and Bowser sitting down in armchairs talking.

" I'm sure they'll be just fine, Bowser. I have not had a problem with their behaviour yet," Melinda had said reassuringly. Ludwig's stomach turned, he could not help but think that maybe she was lying about something… again. He hated the way she lied to their dad.

" I know, but there are seven of them to look after and I would have to wait for Kamek to come back because he usually watches them when I am gone," Bowser said worriedly.( a/n: Yes, you read it… worriedly… the king of the koopas is WORRIED! ^-^ Hey, it could happen… ) Melinda patted his hand.

" It's okay. I'm sure I'll be just fine looking after them by myself. And then there's always Ludwig also, and Lemmy to help out," Melinda smiled. Bowser looked at her and smiled too.

" How about we take a walk? Just the two of us. Then after you can pack up whatever you'll need and then we'll see you in about a week or so?" Melinda asked him. Bowser's eyes had gone wide.

" A week? Oh, no… I could not possibly stay away-"

" Yes, you need it. You work way too hard. Like I said, just don't worry about anything here," Melinda said still smiling. Bowser had stared off at another wall like he had done in the throne room, and after a few seconds he turned back to Melinda and nodded.

" Okay," he said. The two of them slowly got up. Ludwig backed away from the door and then took off down the corridor back to the room where he had left his siblings earlier.

Melinda turned to Bowser again.

" It's quite funny, really," she said, " but Morton and Wendy seem to have thing for dancing. They had me spinning all over the place today." Bowser raised an eyebrow and then scratched his head. He had never heard of Morton and Wendy dancing before.

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Ludwig had come running back into the room to find Wendy and Morton sitting around in a corner watching Roy chase Iggy and Larry around at the same time with Iggy's glasses in one of his hands. Ludwig rolled his eyes, walked up and snatched the glasses right out of Roy's hand and then handed them to Iggy. Roy glared at him.

" Hey! I was havin' fun!!" Roy pouted.

" If I had a coin, Roy, I'd give it to you and tell you to go tell someone who cared," Ludwig replied. Larry laughed, Roy snarled at him. Larry then ran and hid behind Ludwig. Iggy smiled and jumped excitedly.

" Oh!! So, what is Dad going to do about Melinda???" he asked and impatiently awaited an answer. Ludwig looked around at all his anxious siblings ( Iggy passed it down, DUH… lol ^-6 ) and then hung his head slightly.

" She's out of here, right, Ludwig?" Larry asked, smiling. Wendy and Morton had jumped up.

" Yeah, it'd be nice if she were gone!" Wendy said, crossing her arms. The other four had agreed with her. ( besides Ludwig )

" It would be nice if I had even gotten to _speak_ with Dad.." Ludwig said frustrated. His siblings stopped jumping up and down happily and gave him blank stares.

" Whadda ya mean 'IF' ya had gotten to SPEAK with Dad?!" Roy demanded. Ludwig shook his head.

" He was so busy worrying about talking to Kamek and finding Melinda that he barely acknowledged me standing there in front of him!" Ludwig looked up, glaring, " can you believe that?! He has SO much time to go out and speak about 'important' matters with his underlings and find his fiancée whom he _already_ spends 24/7 with and yet he has NO time at all to speak with his own son! His own children for goombas' sake!!!" Ludwig said fiercely and stared out the window, trying to calm himself down. He was trying to keep his siblings calm and so felt no need for him to not be calm at all. He found it hard to do because he was so outraged at the time but he had managed to calm down. He continued looking out the window. Melinda and Bowser were just heading out the front door of the castle and were now poking at the sleeping piranha plants out front.

" They are going to go out for a walk… and then Dad is packing up to go on a week long vacation… by himself. We will be left alone here with Melinda, it is a super vital thing now for us to stay in our pairs and to listen, cooperate and work together. Because now that Dad is going, it may cost us our lives, not that it has not already. I want to try talking to Dad again about Melinda before he leaves. I'm going to go follow them on their walk, I don't know if anyone else is coming with or if I am going alone," Ludwig said, and then glanced back over at his siblings.

" A… a week?!" Larry exclaimed.

" A week!! That is seven long days! A day has 24 long hours, an hour has 60 long minutes, and a minute has 60 long seconds! And a week is even longer, for it is 168 hours long, 10 080 minutes long, and 604 800 seconds long!! I am not sure if my math is correct, but I am sure it is, and if it is not, then I guess that I am wrong, but I am sure that I am not wrong, though I am not sure that I have the right numbers, but how can I be sure if I am unsure?-" Morton started.

" Morton!! SHUT UP!!" Roy yelled.

" I'm coming with you, Ludwig," Iggy said over Roy's yelling. Wendy and Larry agreed as well, and Morton waved his hand smiling as a sign to Ludwig that he was also going to help out. Roy nodded at Ludwig, then glared at Morton.

" Whee! Hey, guess who's baaaa-" came a familiar voice, and then a loud crash. ( the author bursts out laughing when she writes this and why? Because she is an idiot who laughs at everything… ) The koopalings had all ran to where the sound of the crash had come from, only to see a very too familiar circus ball roll by. At the foot of the set of stairs ( you know which ones… AGAIN ) were a large pile of completely dazed koopa troopas, and buried with all of them was…

" Lemmy?!" Ludwig exclaimed, " are you sure you can walk around like that?" Lemmy shook the sense back into him ( if he had any to begin with ) and with the help of the koopa troopas, he lifted himself up quite painfully. He seemed as if his bones and muscles were very stiff, but he smiled.

" I'm just sore… I'll be just fine," he said, " so what did I miss?"

Ludwig lead them all out of the castle and they followed Melinda and Bowser on their walk, unnoticed. ( a/n: Yeah, I don't think they want to be noticed… lol!! ^-6 ) Along the way, they all explained to Lemmy everything that had happened while he was gone.

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Jeshi: Yay! Good ol' chapter 6 is done! And now after I get chapter 7 done… the REAL fun will begin… ^-^

Larry: O_o? What fun?

Jeshi: Nothing. ^-^;;;

Larry: O_O….

Jeshi: Anyways, I'm sorry for the late update people, I hope to update sooner!! And I hope my chapters start coming out a tiny bit longer…@_@ lol ^-^  
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	7. Fall of the Leader

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Jeshi: O_O * Listens to the Kooky laugh again then mimics it…. again… and again… and again.. *

Larry: -_-; Author, give it up… you'll never be able to laugh like him..

Jeshi: No!!! When there is an idiot with a will, then you have found an idiot with a WAY!

Larry: @_@… uhh… nice…?

Jeshi: * bows * Thank you! ^-^ I just made that up!

Larry: @_@ she does not own anything at all from Mario.

Jeshi: *shakes head* Noperz T_T

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The seven of the koopalings had followed behind Melinda and Bowser, making sure to stay hidden in the trees and shrubs the best that they could. Ludwig's younger siblings had wondered why Ludwig wanted to follow them so much right now, but they guessed that he must have had his reasons for he had been worried about eavesdropping to find out information and stuff before too. 

At long last Bowser and Melinda had entered a park and sat down on a bench and talked to each other again. While they were talking to each other, the koopalings had hid some feet away behind a huge pile of bushes, and watched them.

" Well, while we are waiting for them to start moving again," Ludwig said while spying on them still, " what did you three find out?" He quickly glanced over at Larry, Wendy and Morton.

" We found out that she thinks that we are nosy, and she knows that Larry's a liar," Wendy announced. Larry smirked at her and then said, " she's afraid of Chain Chomps!"

" So… we are nosy are we?" Ludwig asked and narrowed his eyes at Melinda on the bench.

" Yes, and Larry is a liar," Wendy laughed. Larry glared at her.

" It's not that funny.." Larry pouted, " besides, if it was not for me, there probably could have been a lot of trouble."

" Larry, you ARE trouble," Lemmy laughed at him. Larry crossed his arms and gave a sarcastic look.

" Whatever," he answered rolling his eyes.

" Lemmy, this is seriously no time to be funny," Ludwig said frustrated.

" I never said it was funny, Ludwig. Believe me, I KNOW that it is not funny, you think it feels great to be pushed down the stairs?" Lemmy answered.

" And I am entirely serious myself when I say that we all have to stay together and really work now. Dad is going and we'll be left all alone with her, so who knows what she will try while he is out. I already said before that after they have their little walk that I was going to attempt talking to Dad again and see what happens. If it does not work, we will have to go bother Kamek in his own room to help us out, for I am sure that he has not heard of what has happened I presume?" Ludwig said. His siblings nodded and they continued to watch over Bowser and Melinda cuddling up on the bench. Wendy glared.

" At one point that used to be cute… but now it is just sick," Wendy said watching.

" I told ya that the whole lovey - dovey mushy stuff was stupid," Roy gloated and sat off to the side. Melinda had suddenly glanced over at the bushes. The koopalings all sprang away from them, except for Ludwig, who just kept watching to see if Melinda was going to come over or not to investigate. 

" She must have heard us… or not?" Ludwig said and continued watching.

" She could not have heard us, Dad didn't!" Iggy replied.

" No… Dad has paid too much attention to her that he is starting to forget about us," Ludwig said again, " at least that has been the way that I have seen it." He turned back to his brothers and sister.

" That is why we have to work together now, as a team, a seven person team, not a ONE person team," Ludwig directed the last comment to Roy and continued, " with the strength of our minds, not ONLY the strength of our muscles." 

" Okay, okay!" Roy rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

" You think that that is possible, Ludwig? That Roy can use his mind?" Iggy asked tilting his head to the side. The other koopalings snickered silently, but Roy was not amused. ( heheh, obviously! ^-^ ) He quickly had grabbed Iggy's arm and twisted it behind his back.

" Let's hear ya say that again," Roy smirked at him. Iggy winced and let out a squeak of pain, trying hard not to yell. Ludwig had then pulled away from the bush and gave Roy a shove away from Iggy.

" Roy!" Ludwig hissed, " we have NO time for this, you are going to blow our cover, injure our brother and just basically make everything worse!" Roy glared at Ludwig and had seriously thought of shoving him back, but then decided against it. Iggy rubbed his arm where Roy had had a hold on it and looked up at Roy. Roy glared at him again, and Iggy just cowered beside Larry.

Ludwig had gotten back to the place where he had been watching Melinda and Bowser and his eyes went wide. They were not there. He looked around frantically, only to see that they had started their walk back to the castle already.

" Quick! They're going back!" Ludwig quickly said, and with that the other six koopalings had risen to their feet and crouching behind the shrubs and trees again. They followed them as stealthily as they possibly could, but they had to slow down every now and then because with the seven of them moving together so quickly made some noise.

Bowser and Melinda were almost at the castle when they stopped.

" I'll stay here and wait for you, Bowser. You just go up to the castle and get what you need," she said smiling.

" Are you sure? I really don't want to leave you here alone," Bowser replied.

" Yes, dear. You go right ahead, I'll be just fine here alone," she answered again smiling still. Bowser smiled also and then left to the castle while Melinda stood there in the middle of the path. The seven koopalings stopped right where they were.

" Damn!" Ludwig whispered. The others all looked at each other.

" Now what do we do?" Iggy asked quietly.

" Okay… she's not going anywhere obviously. So we have to sneak past her to get to the castle. We will go one at a time, be careful, don't rush too much if you are going to make noise, stay low and do not stop. Get over as far as you can and try to hide under the bush," Ludwig quietly whispered again. 

Larry had gone first, and easily had gotten to their destination, and waited for the others. Quickly and quietly they made their way to where Larry had hidden. Ludwig was the last to go. He waited for his other little siblings to hurry along and make it over to Larry, then he slowly looked over the bushes to see if Melinda was still there. She was still standing there, just staring ahead at the direction of the castle. He again crouched down and started crawling quietly to where his other siblings had assembled. Ludwig had then gotten a strange feeling. As if someone was coming. He had not thought of why he had that feeling. But it was shortly after that he had learned why he had felt like that.

Before he did anything else, he was suddenly pulled out of the bush by Melinda. That's why she had just stared ahead and did nothing, she knew someone was near by! He fought to break free of her grip but he could not get her to let go of him. She had then thrown him into a warp pipe that was located a few feet behind her. As soon as he was thrown in, it closed itself off. She looked around, then headed towards the castle singing, " Six more to go.."

As soon as Melinda was gone, the other six koopalings jumped out of the bushes and crowded the closed off pipe.

" What the hell?! How did she know that Ludwig was coming!?" Roy asked in disbelief. 

" Well, NOW what do we do?! Our older brother is gone, and we don't know if he's dead or not!!" Larry yelled hysterically. Lemmy shrugged.

" I don't know… all I know for now is that we have to stop Dad from leaving!!! Come on!!" Lemmy said quickly and then took off running to the castle. His other brothers and sister hesitated, neither of them knowing whether to follow Lemmy or to stay put and just not do anything. Then they all at once had taken off after Lemmy…

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Jeshi: *cries* T_T I'm sorry people, this chapter was short… it was very short… I am ashamed of myself… but it was just so hard to write, and I was trying to limit what I wanted in this chapter and then the next one. @_@ Uhhh… but with the way things are going, the next chapter should be as long as the others, or longer… lol, don't give up on me yet… that and I don't feel very well right now… T_T

Larry: O_O wow… you have a very short chapter…

Jeshi: I know!!!! *continues to cry* -_-; I'll try to get the next chapter as long or longer than the other ones, don't worry people…

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	8. Lemmy Takes Over

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Jeshi: Okies, no more wasting time!! Time to get chapter 8 all written out and it's DEFENITELY longer than chapter 7!! ^-^

Larry: …Go for it. ^_^ And she owns nothing from Mario!

Jeshi: XD My little sister asked me recently what I got her for Christmas ( we went Christmas shopping early because we will have NO time in December, lol ) and I told her " I didn't get you anything. " Sadly enough, she believed me. ^-^;;

Larry: O_O… so… you lied to your sister, is that it?

Jeshi: Yeah… kinda like when I " borrowed " my dad's lighter so that I could light the candles in my room… and I just… haven't had the time to return it yet… for the past 3 months… * shifty eyes *

Larry: O_O!! You are a thieving, lying girl!!! You are bad!!

Jeshi: O-o!? _ And what does that make YOU?!

Larry: @_@ No comment.

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The six koopalings snuck into the castle only shortly after Melinda had entered it herself. Going in through the window would have made more sense, but instead they had went through the front doors. Together, they searched in the most obvious of places where their dad would have been. (except for the throne room of course.. A/n: why no one checks there first is beyond me. Lol XD )When they had finally had the idea of looking into the throne room, they found Bower there, but Melinda along with him. She was already in the midst of telling him about how she was apparently "lonely" standing outside by herself and that she had decided to come to the castle to wait for Bowser. They stood in the doorway watching, until Melinda had noticed them. She tilted her head and gave a really puzzled look.

" Hello, children, " she said, " …where is Ludwig? He is always with you, is he not?" 

Roy balled up his fists and had to bite really hard on his lip to keep from charging at Melinda in fury. But even that was barely working for him. Lemmy just shrugged and gave a "confused" look himself.

" We don't know. We are looking for him right now, " he answered.

" Well… he should be around here somewhere, shouldn't he? He always is, right? " she smiled, then left the throne room saying, " I will be right back, Bowser. "

" Alright, " he called after her, then called for a group of paratroopas and ordered them to tell Kamek that he would be gone for about a week. When he turned back and continued to get ready to pack, he had noticed that six of his children had then surrounded him.

" What are you all doing? " Bowser asked them.

" Dad!! Where are going?! " Lemmy suddenly asked. Bowser gave them a puzzled look and scratched his head.

" Going on vacation, you didn't know? " he answered.

His children all shook their heads and narrowed their eyes.

" Dad, you haven't told us ANYTHING lately!! " Iggy exclaimed.

" Well, I told Ludwig, I would guess that he told the rest of you, " Bowser gave a messed-up looking smile. The one that asked, " are you convinced yet? " 

" He told us, Dad… but he can't tell us anything anymore! He's not here!" Larry said.

" What are you talking about? He's here. You all just said he was, you're just looking for him in the castle, even Melinda said that he must be here, " Bowser said and raised an eyebrow. Lemmy gave a furious look.

" NO! Dad, he's NOT here, and we know it!! Melinda threw him into a warp pipe, and now the warp pipe closed itself off, and we can't get in to help him, and he can't get out back to us! We don't even know if he's alive or not! " Lemmy said. Bowser gave him a perplexed look and then shook his head.

" What do you mean? Melinda has no idea where he is, she said she hasn't seen him anywhere, " he said.

" Dad!! You weren't there when this happened!! All six of us were right there outside when you left Melinda and headed to the castle, she… well, we don't know WHAT she did to Ludwig, but he's not here, and he won't be coming back either!!!! She's been doing this ever since she got here, she's pushed me down the stairs, the reason why Ludwig came home soaked the other night was because she set him up to be attacked by a Cheep Cheep and drown! And then she tried to push Wendy off the roof of the castle, she's causing lots of trouble, she's trying to kill us, Dad!! " Lemmy yelled.

" Lemmy!! How dare you speak about Melinda like that. All of those things could have maybe been accidents- " Bowser started.

" And how ironic? She was at EVERY one of those accidents! " Lemmy snapped sarcastically. Bowser gave Lemmy a very grim look, and a low growl could be heard from him. It made Lemmy bit his lip to quiet down suddenly and he cowered a little.

" You know better than to speak to me like that. You are probably just worried that I will pay more attention to her than to all of you, " Bowser said slowly. Wendy stomped her foot.

" No, Daddy!! You HAVE been paying more attention to her! Everything has changed since SHE got here!! " she pouted.

" I have no idea what any of you are talking about. And if anything has changed, it's the fact that my kids have now become extremely mouthy with their father, " Bowser said sternly looking over all of them.

" NO!! " came Larry's voice. They all looked over at him. He had his own fists balled up and he looked on the verge of tears. They did not come of course, and he stood there and glared at Bowser, so hysterical that they could see he was shaking.

" You know WHAT has changed?! WHAT is sad in this life?! When a father actually takes some **witch's** word over his own children, the ones who he has known since THEY were born!! He's lived with them and he's raised them… and… and… ARRRGHHH!! " he screamed fiercely, turned and ran to the door. 

His siblings practically froze right then and there. None of them even dared to say anything, not even Morton. They all just watched Larry approach the door and swing it open.

" Larry!! Get back here! " Bowser yelled at him.

" I hate you!! " Larry yelled back, not even turning to face Bowser. He slammed the door as hard as he could on his way out, making a loud echo throughout the throne room. A darkness had seemed to seep into and around the room at that time, and it gave everyone in the room a very creepy feeling.

The other five koopalings were prepared, ready for their dad to start yelling for the fact that not only did Larry lip him off, but he disobeyed him as well. But when they looked up at their Dad, he had done nothing but stared at the door, no expression appearing on his face at all. But something still did not seem right about how he looked at that time - he actually seemed like he was… hurt?

Bowser had then just shook his head and then headed for the door himself. His children stood around staring wide-eyed at each other, worried and not knowing what to do or say. Iggy ran ahead and out the door suddenly, whispering to his other siblings, " I'm going to go find Larry… " Lemmy on the other hand ran up ahead also and up to their dad who had just made it to the door.

" Dad!!! Come on, you can't do this! We're telling the truth, honest! " Lemmy pleaded the best he could. Bowser had just looked down at him and did not stop. He opened up the door, looked down at the ground, then back at Lemmy.

" You all just need to get used to her, " he answered, and then left the throne room. Lemmy stood there looking at the closed door, really upset with the fact that now the six of them were going to be left alone for a whole week with this crazy lady, and that their oldest brother was now gone. But he was also angry too. He was angry at his dad for just leaving like that, without even considering that they could be telling the truth. Lemmy had then too, balled up his fists, and glared angrily at the door. He spat out a short and snappy roar and stomped the stone floor with one of his feet. He turned back to his remaining brothers and sister.

" Hmph. Ludwig was right, he has had all the time in the world to speak to everyone else but US. And now that he did, he does not even believe us. What is this world coming to?! " Lemmy stomped around a few more seconds, then just collapsed on the floor and stared up at the far away ceiling. Roy, Morton and Wendy all looked at each other, a little panicked themselves and also angry, and then they had sat down themselves. 

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Iggy had decided to check out Larry's bedroom first, assuming that that would have been the first place he would have went to. But he was not there when he looked.

Iggy wondered about this for a few minutes. He did not know another location as to where Larry could have been. Honestly, he never really paid much attention to his little brother, so why would he now? Well, with Melinda around, he would have to, but… he looked around the hallways nearest him. He was about to go running down back to the throne room when he noticed the little figure of his brother and the blue hair sticking up over his head. He was sitting crouched against a wall and glowered at the dark stone floor. 

Iggy slowly approached him, then looked over Larry to see that he was sitting underneath a portrait. It was the portrait of the seven of them and their dad.

" So… uh… yeah, Dad just… he just left I guess. He didn't get mad though when you left the throne room, " Iggy said, smiling slightly. He sat down beside Larry, who was still glaring down at the floor.

" I want things to go back to the way they were, when SHE wasn't here!! " Larry pouted. Iggy patted him on the head and continued smiling.

" Aww, we'll be okay, Larry. Even if Ludwig is gone… I… I don't know… " Iggy said and looked around, " c'mon, we don't want the rest of them looking for us. " He got up and held his hand out to Larry. Larry looked up at him, still with a grim face, and then reluctantly took his hand and allowed Iggy to help him up to his feet. And then together, they both started on their way back to the throne room.

" Larry, I'm worried too… just so you know… " Iggy said quietly, and looked back down at his little brother. Larry did not look up at him, but nodded.

"… I want Ludwig back… " he answered.

The two of them had decided to take a short-cut through a large room back to the throne room, obviously to save them time. ( a/n: **sings the Sherry Bobbins song from the Simpsons which she does not own** If you CUT every corner there'll be more time to pllaaayyy!! It's the American wayyyy!! …O-o… though I'm not American, I'm Canadian, EH? ^-^ )

Larry though had still seemed very upset even after Iggy tried to tell him jokes on their way through the room. But even Iggy himself was not in a joking mood at this time. Besides, his jokes were not even funny. If anything, Lemmy could get a laugh out of someone somehow, even if it meant for him to make an ass of himself somehow. 

It was then that Larry had looked up finally, and his eyes had gone wide.

" Iggy - watch it!! " he yelled and shoved Iggy out of the way of a chandelier that had come crashing down, just skinning Larry's arm when he too had jumped out of the way.

Iggy slowly and shakily had gotten up and looked around, though that was hard to do for he had again lost his glasses. He fished around for a few seconds with his hand skimming across the area on the floor around him until he could feel the familiar feel of malleable metal and the huge plastic lenses ( a/n: =P I know what glasses are like, don't tell me any different! I have glasses myself! ^-^ @_@ Though I wear contacts most of the time… unless I'm just too lazy to put my contacts in… I'll shut up now XD ) in his fingers. He slid them back on his face and looked around at the shattered glass everywhere. Just a few feet away from him, he could see Larry standing beside the fallen and bent up chandelier, the side of his arm now bleeding. He stared at Iggy, fear in his eyes.

" Larry… Larry are you okay? " Iggy asked him, and ran over to Larry to and started checking his arm over. Larry growled at him and pulled his arm away. Iggy grabbed his other hand and continued walking out of the room dragging Larry behind with him.

" Come on, we have to go, " Iggy said, still pulling Larry, who was busy trying to pull his hand out of Iggy's.

Iggy and Larry had a few seconds later stumbled into the throne room and sat around with the other koopalings. Lemmy jumped and ran over as soon as he saw Larry's arm. 

" What happened?! " Lemmy asked frantically as he examined Larry's arm, daring himself to attempt prodding Larry's cuts with his fingers.

" Ow!!! That hurts!! " Larry yelled at him and started pulling away from Lemmy violently.

" Larry, you're hurt, I just want to check your arm, " Lemmy said, attempting to fight his little brother back from pulling his arm away.

" Lemmy!! Let me go! " Larry yelled at Lemmy. Lemmy sighed and let go of Larry's arm. Larry took off to another side of the room and glared at him.

" Melinda, **that's** what the problem here is! " Larry pouted and crossed his arms. His older siblings all nodded their heads in agreement.

" And Daddy doesn't believe us, " Wendy sulked.

" And now she's going to get rid of us! She'll kill us even if she has to, and we'll never see Dad again! Oh, how horrible, how terrible, how cruddy and no good, those are all the words for one word that will perfectly describe it all! BAD! All of it!! BAD BAD and BAD! What is the world coming to when we can't even LIVE in it?! What is the world coming to when we can't even- " Morton had started announcing, before Roy ran over and pushed him over.

" Shut up, ya little bag a' scum!!! Before I pop you back to the time where they would hang you up by your toes in the public when the king ordered you to SHUT UP, but you didn't!!! " Roy bellowed heatedly. Morton gave him a confused look for a few seconds, then went to open his mouth to say something again, but when Roy held his fist up to Morton's face, Morton actually thought twice before saying another word.

" I got an idea! Let's just run away! Run away and never return, either way, we'll never see Dad again! " Larry yelled from across the room helplessly as he plopped down on the floor.

" What are you talking about, Larry?! We don't need to go anywhere- " Lemmy started.

" Earth to Lemmy!!! **Ludwig** is GONE!! He's long gone! Haven't you noticed something ever since Melinda first came here? **LUDWIG** has been the one helping us through everything she's done to us! HE has been the smart one, the one with the ideas, like a leader! And YOU know what happens to the crew after the leader takes the plunge, don't you?! They **ALL** go down! Down, down like flies! We're **doomed**, Lemmy! Finished! " Iggy exclaimed.

" Fini! " Morton added with a mockingly French accent. ( a/n: No, I'm not dissing the french. ^-^ Why would I diss them? I'm partially french. Lol O-o… then again, I diss Canadians, and I'M a Canadian myself… uh… @_@ I think I'll shut up now ) Roy rolled his eyes at him.

" What are you guys talking about?! We just can't leave!! " Lemmy said, trying to get his siblings to reconsider.

" Yes we can, we've got no other choice, not now since Ludwig is gone, " Iggy said shaking his head.

Lemmy stared at all of them in disbelief. He could not believe this. It was as if the seven of them were a huge building, and Ludwig was the base, the very foundation that actually held up the entire structure. And now that the base was gone, everyone was going to give up, just like the building decides to fall.

He looked around at his siblings' faces. They were all so discouraged, they had fear in their eyes. Even Roy looked like he was very tense, even though Lemmy could barely see his eyes through his dark shades. Lemmy looked over at Larry on the other side of the room, arm still bleeding. Larry was holding it protectively and just staring at it, he was shaking too. They all were, at least that was what Lemmy could see. What was wrong? They were never like this when Ludwig was actually around. That was quite odd, seeing as how the younger siblings would always tell him that he was insane. But supposedly back then it was no big deal, but now they really seemed to need him… him and his crazy wacko ideas. ( a/n: O_O… kinda reminds me of… me… my little sisters ALWAYS tell me that I'm insane @_@… my parents even say so… even my co-workers… my teachers… random people on the street… neighbours… customers at the restaurant… oh, the worker guy at laser quest, yeah, you can't forget him… no, I'm serious * )

But just looking over his younger siblings like this gave him a weird feeling. He seemed to pick up a little bit more confidence in himself, like all the responsibility had suddenly fell onto his shoulders. He then considered this to be the case.

" No. We're not leaving… and she's not going to make us leave either, " Lemmy said, narrowing his eyes. His brothers and sister gave him all puzzled looks, and he continued.

" If Ludwig was here, he would not have wanted us to just **give up** now would he? No, I didn't think so. He would have wanted us to keep going on, the best we can. Come on, guys. We are koopas! We NEVER go down without a fight! Honestly, what do you think Dad would do?! " Lemmy asked them. They all shrugged, still confused. 

" Let's see… um… he'd probably… LEAVE, " Iggy said as he flicked a ball of lint on the floor with his fingers. The others nodded.

" Yeah, Dad would leave. He just did, " Roy said. Lemmy glared at all of them.

" I can't believe you guys!! After what we've gone through so far, you're just going to give up!? Some family YOU all are! We've been through so much in our lives right now, and just because some crazy lady shows up wanting to maybe KILL us, you want to just… just… GIVE UP?!?!? You're all mad!! " Lemmy yelled.

" That's the plan, " Roy answered smugly. Lemmy smirked at Roy.

" What's happened to you, Roy? You used to be tough…" Lemmy said. Roy froze. He gave Lemmy an icy look and adjusted his shades.

" WHAT did you just say? " he asked darkly. Lemmy smiled.

" You want to just give up. I thought that that was what the weak did. Unless you've become weak, " Lemmy answered. Roy spat on the ground and glared at him fiercely.

" Roy, just don't listen to him, " Larry called, " you don't even know what point he is trying to make. " Roy glared over at Larry.

" Shut up! I wasn't asking ya, I'd rather come over there and pulverize you! " Roy yelled at him.

" No, YOU shut up, Roy!! I'm tired of having to listen to you boss us around, and I don't want to listen to you before I die! " Wendy screeched at Roy. Before anyone knew it, they were all yelling at each other, except for Lemmy. Lemmy stood there and watched them all fight amongst themselves. He shook his head, his jaw slightly ajar. He then glared fiercely at them.

" HEY!! THAT'S ENOUGH!!! " he screamed at them. Surprisingly enough, they all stopped fighting and looked over at him. They were all surprised that Lemmy had actually yelled at them, as if he was scolding them for something. He gave a harsh glare to all of them and breathed very deeply after he had finished yelling at them.

" We are NOT going to give up!! None of us are, you got that?! You all know damn well that Ludwig wouldn't want us to give up, so don't give up! We can do this! Sure, our " leader " is gone now, but even if ONE member of our team is gone, we can survive without them. It may be hard because he's older and smarter than us, but there's still US. C'mon, there's ONE of her and six of us, if we just keep together we can- " Lemmy explained to them, but was suddenly cut off.

" Lemmy!! Shut up, just shut up already! " Roy yelled at him. Lemmy turned and glared at Roy again.

" No, YOU shut the hell up and listen!! ALL OF YOU! " he looked around them. He had their attention… all five of them. Roy had a surprised look on his face, he had not expected Lemmy to turn around and shoot something right back at him.

" We are all going to fight back, just like we were going to in the first place. I say we will, and that's what is going to happen, " Lemmy continued, " and **I** say we stay. We are not going anywhere. We are going to stay in the pairs that we had been given before, and why? Because it worked. Of course there will be no goofing around at the bridge, and no one will leave their partners. Just like what Ludwig had said, if we are going to survive, we have to work together and cooperate. We have to pull together as a team to beat her. She's smart, but if WE all just work with each other, we are too! Even without Ludwig. But you all just have to calm down, we all have to calm down, we have to relax. She can't see our fear, our tension. She can't see that we are intimidated by the fact that our older brother is probably DEAD by now. She might not know if we know, but just in case she does, she can't see that it bothers us. Besides, if we slow down and think about things thoroughly, then we'll get much more accomplished, right? "

His siblings all looked around at each other, their fear fading away slightly. Even Larry had calmed down and inched closer to the group, he was now even worrying more about the fact that his cuts were bleeding. But Roy still wasn't thoroughly convinced. He smirked at Lemmy and crossed his arms.

" Hmph. Who died and put YOU in charge? " Roy asked smugly, and glared at Lemmy. Lemmy glared back at Roy.

" Besides Ludwig, I'm oldest. And as the second oldest, I should be the second-in command, should I not? " Lemmy answered. Roy took a step closer to him.

" Yeah? Well, I think that **I** would make a better leader than YOU would, " Roy sneered.

" Don't count on it, " Lemmy snapped, " and what kind of battle techniques were YOU planning on using to fight back with? "

" Actually, I think that we should just go and beat her up, then we just kick her outta the castle, " Roy answered arrogantly, apparently proud of himself. Lemmy shook his head and smiled mockingly.

" Yeah right. THAT'S your plan? And with WHAT kind of weapons are you going to use? She's older and bigger than all of us combined. She's even bigger than you, how is that going to work out? " Lemmy asked with some sarcasm in his voice.

" Well, that's why we all just gang up on her at once! C'mon, there's only one of her, and six of us! " Roy answered. Lemmy shook his head at him.

" No, Roy. Because guess what? Before there were also SEVEN of us and she got rid of Ludwig, didn't she? "

" Yeah? Well… how do YOU know that that will happen again, huh?! " Roy demanded.

" Well, I don't KNOW, Roy. How did we know that what happened outside just minutes ago would even happen at all?! Huh?! " Lemmy shot back at him. Roy continued to glare at him, then grunted and shook his head. He had muttered something, but none of them had heard what it was.

" …I trust you, Lemmy, " Larry said softly and slowly made his way back to his other brothers and sister. Larry walked up to Lemmy, sighed and stuck his arm out reluctantly to him. Lemmy smiled and started looking over his arm again, for any shards of glass that had managed to get stuck in the cuts.

" Phht. I can't believe this! " Roy huffed and then turned to the door, on his way he had managed to trip over his own feet and land with a loud '_thud_' on the floor.

" Have a nice **trip**, Roy? " Lemmy asked still looking at Larry's arm. Sniggers came from Iggy, Wendy and Morton. Roy got up and stomped off to a corner of the throne room and leaned against the stone wall. He crossed his arms and rolled his eyes at them.

How could Lemmy have said such a stupid thing? Roy was a good leader, at least that was what Roy thought, and he definitely thought that his opinions always counted, whether anyone liked them or not. And what were the matter with his ideas? He was sure that they would work. But no, all of his siblings had to choose the " Ludwig Worshipper " over him. He did not understand how that worked out, and actually he did not want to know. All he knew right now was that he had wanted nothing to do with Lemmy, but then again, he never wanted anything to do with him in the first place. So for now, Roy just glared up at the ceiling and tried to ignore them all.

" Well?! What's the matter with it, Lemmy!? " Larry demanded once he had gotten impatient with Lemmy looking over his arm.

" Well… you have cuts… there's no glass in your arm… " Lemmy answered.

" Well!? And what? Is there anything else?! What should I do? " Larry asked, glaring at him. Lemmy smiled.

" Uh… a cold cloth. Run it under water and put it on your arm, " Lemmy replied, still staring at his arm.

" What?!!? You took _that_ long just to look over it and tell me that I should just get a cloth on it?! That's not funny!! Then again, NONE of your jokes are funny, Lemmy! " Larry shouted angrily at him. Lemmy nodded.

" Yes, Larry. It took me only three minutes to tell you that you should put a cloth on your arm, " Lemmy replied sarcastically. Larry started walking around yelling ( if we recall from chapter one, Wendy seemed to have done that a lot ) and ranting about Lemmy. He then stopped and sat on the floor out of breath. He honestly could not see HOW Wendy was able to do that for hours on end.

Lemmy could do nothing but laugh at them. It was just funny to see Larry try to do something that Wendy had clearly had more practice with.

The good thing for Lemmy now was that his younger siblings had trusted him, ( Roy being the one exception ) the bad thing on the other hand… what was he going to do? It was true, Ludwig had had all the ideas, the only ideas that Lemmy had were ones that included laughing hysterically at something or someone, and those were not the ideas that they had needed now. He figured that maybe it was about time that he was serious about something, though he had been since he had talked to their dad. And now that he was their new appointed " leader " he had to watch out over ALL of them. He honestly could not see how Ludwig could have done so and yet kept them all in line… sort of. He was even able to give the younger ones confidence, something that Lemmy had had trouble with. But as long as they were convinced that they could trust Lemmy, things should have worked, right?

It was then that Lemmy had noticed that his siblings were still standing around in the throne room. They were all looking at him, as if waiting for some kind of order. Lemmy raised an eyebrow and looked over all of them.

" Umm… uh… you can go now? Just… remember to stay in you pairs? " Lemmy suggested. Morton, Wendy, Roy and Iggy had all re-grouped and left the room, leaving Larry behind with Lemmy. Lemmy gave out a sigh of relief. He was glad that that was over now, but now he needed some ideas of his own… that did not involve trying to make a joke out of things. He walked over to Larry who was giving him a curious look and pet him on the head. Larry shook his head angrily, he did not like it when people did that to him, it made him feel small and short.

" Come on, Larry. Let's go fix up your arm, " Lemmy said. And then together, the two of them left the throne room.

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Jeshi: Oh my god, I'm SO sorry for that wait people!! T_T I was so busy, and… and yeah… you COULD say writer's block, but you couldn't in a way? It was more like… a lack of inspiration. The WILL to actually write the story! XD I had to blare my music REALLY loud in my ears to get it work my brain! That and I've had homework, work, I've been playing the Sims ( shut up, I just bought two more expansion packs on the weekend. XD ) and we got the driving times for our driving class thingy. @_@ Oh, and now I'll be doing basketball scorekeeping ( Kaira-chan, you did not hear the announcement in the middle of 2nd and 3rd period, did you? 'Cause you weren't in the office when we had to see Mr. Pearce. Yes, it was at THAT time XD unless you just weren't at school? )

Larry: O_O! Hey! Quit hogging all the author note space!

Jeshi: =P BLEGH! I've got to tell the readers the reason why I haven't updated! Before I'd update every few days to a week! And now, this thingy took me maybe… two weeks?!

Larry: So?!

Jeshi: It MATTERS! =P And I WAS serious about the laser quest thing people. -_-; My friend and I had gone to Laser Quest in grade 7, (back then, me laughing like Marge Simpson was a habit… an unintentional habit!! * and I hated it! No matter what, I could NOT stop laughing like her! @_@ ) and we were just looking over team names to call ourselves, and we had found "Beavus and Butthead" and started laughing. Well, because of my crappy Marge Simpson laugh that I had at that time, the laser quest worker there at the desk looked at me wide-eyed and backed away saying, "Now THAT is just SCARY!!" @_@ it was funny, yet embarrassing. ANYWAY, I'm sorry for boring you with my long story and author note (no, the laser quest story, not the actual story!! *) so you can go and review now, or just not, whatever. But I'd accept the review more, without flames though, because that's not good. ^-^

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	9. The Dreams of Ludwig

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Jeshi: Time to write up chapter 9 ^-^ I'm SOOO proud of myself! I'm getting so far with my story… T_T too bad barely anyone reads it, lol.

Larry: Meh, they'll read it. They have to in the end! ^_^

Jeshi: -_-; Ha, that's a joke. No one will read it besides Kaira-chan and maybe 2-3 other people… well, other people probably read it, they just don't review, lol @_@

Larry: O_o.. whatever. Anyway, she does not own anything from Mario.

Jeshi: Yeppers.

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Ludwig ran as hard as he could, he pushed himself so much he did not seem to get any faster. But he **had** to run faster, he had to save his siblings.

He did not know why he was running, or how he had known that his siblings were in any danger, but he had a feeling, a feeling like they needed him. Being the oldest, he felt like he had to help them. So he ran as fast as his legs could carry him, to rescue his younger brothers and his sister.

He was in the castle and running down a long, not so familiar corridor. So far he had not passed any other hallways or any doors for that matter. And the more he ran, the more tired he became. But he kept running.

He slowed down and then stopped after a few more minutes. He looked around. Everything was dark, really dark, and he had not come up to any turns or a door still. Where was he?

" Where am I? " he asked himself, " I seem to be going on forever in here. "

He decided to take a test. He spat on the floor. Satisfied with the little puddle of saliva he had left on the dark stone floor, he began running again. He watched the floor as he ran. He had not passed his spit again. That must mean that he was getting somewhere, right? 

He stopped finally, and looked behind him and gasped. The little puddle of spit that he had left behind was still there, and just about five feet away he had assumed. He looked all around him again, completely dazed.

" I've been running in only this one spot for how long now?! " he cried to himself, " this corridor just keeps on going, going nowhere, it is never-ending! "

He spun around and looked at everything that was there, if there were anything TO look at. He could not believe this, he had been running in one spot, he was not going anywhere. It overwhelmed him so much, he closed his eyes tightly, hoping that when he opened them that he would be in another place, somewhere where he would be able to run and walk, make progress to help his siblings… somehow. They needed him, they really needed him, he just knew it. But when he opened his eyes, he had done nothing but fall forward. It was a small drop, but it felt like he had fallen from the top of the great castle that they lived in. Just as he saw the ground getting closer and quickly, he squinted his eyes tight and got prepared to hit the floor hard and painfully…

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Ludwig had suddenly jumped awake, horrified with the images hat had just projected in his sub-consciousness. He sat up and looked around anxiously, he was not in the never-ending castle hallway, but more of a desert-looking place.

The sky was a deep violet and was scattered with pure white stars. The ground was all sand and extremely dusty, a pale, grey-blue. Everything around him was misty because of the heavy dust on the ground, and everything around him looked dead. It was only lucky that he was not dead!

He slowly rose to his feet, wobbling as he got up. He still felt so drowsy from sleeping. How long had he been out?

HE stared ahead of him, then around him. There was nothing in sight for miles it seemed like. Maybe he was still in the stone castle? Or in a replica of the stone castle, only in a dead desert of… where was he, what was this place anyway?

A puzzled look swept across his face as he stared blankly in to the dark sky, then down at the pale ground.

" It seems to be… some sort of equivalent of the Star Road… but only… this place is less magical and much more lifeless, " he said, examining all the individual grains of blue-grey sand on the ground, though having some difficulty due to the dust everywhere.

He decided to start walking, seeing if he would get anywhere like this or if he was just going to start walking in one spot again forever, and waste energy again, though before it had been in his dreams. But one of his even more major concerns was walking around in circles, and in such a place it would not be very hard to do so. Luckily the ground was so dusty that whenever he took a step he left a footprint in the sand. Now it was all a matter of being able to see the footprints in the ground afterwards.

He sighed. It seemed as though there was no way for him to ever get back to the castle, if there even was a way. And what was he to do about his siblings? Though it was only a dream, he was sure that they needed him. And he did not know how he had gotten here or how to get back out. And even now, he definitely did not know if he would live here either.

He rubbed his eyes. He wondered if his siblings were okay. He left them all alone and with Melinda too, and Dad was leaving as well! They would have no one to help them. All he could do now was hope, and try to find a way back home, somehow. He opened his eyes and stared ahead in one direction. Well, he was never going to get anything done with just standing there. If he was planning on helping out his little siblings, he had to do something. So started walking in the direction he was facing, hoping that he was not going to start walking around in circles.

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He walked for maybe what it seemed like an eternity. He checked the ground often, and the good thing was, he apparently was not going around in circles. But as for walking in one spot, he was not yet sure. 

But something was actually very strange while he was walking. This place seemed to make him more tired than he usually would have been. He felt like he wanted to curl up and go to sleep again. As he was walking, he could feel his eye lids drooping, they wanted to close, he wanted them to close, he wanted to sleep…

He jerked himself awake suddenly. This was no time to sleep, he had to keep going. So far he had not yet found anything new, nothing but endless miles of blue and grey sand. And did this place ever show a sun? It always seemed to be dark, night time out. It was then that he decided to do the same test in his conscious mind as he had done in his dream. He had spat on the ground, and then continued walking. After some minutes, he stopped and looked back. It was not there. He smiled.

" Okay, that must mean that I AM getting somewhere… right? " he looked around. He tried to reassure himself that he would find a way to get food and water and to get back home. But until then, he was so tired, he just wanted to drift off into a doze.

He yawned loudly, and then let himself fall on the ground sleepily. Why was he so tired? Was it the dust, was it the fact that this place was always night? Or was he just… really tired?

He could feel his eyes dropping again until they just finally shut on him…

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__

He was back in the dark stoned castle. He looked around again, there was nothing still but the darkness and the… well, stoned walls and floors, not surprisingly. 

Ludwig spat on the ground again and started walking down the hallway again. After another few minutes of walking, he looked back to see that his spit was still sitting on the floor. He growled angrily. WHY could he not get anywhere?!

He sat down, frustrated. He had gone back to sleep, and this was the dream he had again. Why?

" Grrrr… WHY?! " Ludwig yelled, then raised an eyebrow. The yell did not echo. Did that mean that he was not even in a hallway? Well, he obviously was not, because this WAS his dream…

It was his dream?! Then how did he KNOW it was his dream if he was sleeping? He looked around frenziedly.

" I know I'm dreaming… I know in my dream that I have had this dream before, I can remember it all… why? It is nothing but something in our sub- conscious minds, it cannot hurt us… or can it? " he said to himself. He pondered on this for a moment, then reluctantly took one of his claws and dig it into his other arm and scratched it. He let out a silent " ow " and then examined where had scratched his arm. It hurt, clearly in his dreams it was hurting.

" What?! WHY… HOW can it hurt?! " Ludwig exclaimed, still staring at his arm. He shook his head and closed his eyes again. When he opened them, he was again falling forwards. And just as he was about to hit the floor…

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Again, Ludwig woke up with a start. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. That was too weird. He was sleeping, he was dreaming, and he knew it, his sub- consciousness knew it. But he wanted to know how and why.

It was then that he felt a stinging feeling. He winced at it and then looked down at his arm to see the scratch that he had placed upon himself. His eyes went wide. 

" But… I had given that to myself in my dream… how could it have really happened? " he asked, then looked around, " this place is weird… very weird. " He stared down at the ground again.

" And I woke up again the same way too. I fell in my dream and woke up… after I had **closed my eyes**? "

He was going to get up, but then just sat on the ground and gazed at the sand grains again, contemplating on about his strange dream again. Not one thing about it made sense, at least to him. Why would he have been taken back to the same dream he had had before? He looked up with a questionable look on his face.

" Could I have gone back to the same dream as before because it was still fresh in my mind? That I was so focused on it that it had taken me back? " he asked, then shook his head, " no. No, that's just being stupid. That couldn't have happened… could it? "

He had not realised it but he was actually starting to feel tired again. He was also hungry, and thirsty. He curled up on the ground and yawned loudly and closed his eyes.

" Ohhh… WHY am I so tired? " he groaned, and then drifted off to sleep yet again.

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_Ludwig had yet again found himself in the same stoned hallway. He stomped his feet angrily._

" WHY DO I KEEP COMING BACK HERE?! " he growled fiercely. He started running down the hallway again.

" Come on… come on… you HAVE to go SOMEWHERE! " he repeated furiously. He ran as hard as he could, and pushed himself hard. He was going to close his eyes and continue running, but had decided not to risk it seeing as how he would just fall over and end the dream. Instead he pushed himself so hard that he was almost falling over himself. He could not remember the last time he had ever run so hard and fast, and how tired he had ever felt from running!

It was then that he had tripped over his own feet. He went sprawling and landed hard on the floor. He lay there, wincing in pain, but keeping not to keep his eyes closed for long. He painfully forced himself up and sat there rubbing his chin. 

" Grrrr… WHY am I here?! " he yelled, frustrated, " WHY do I keep coming back here?! Why to this place, why?! What do I do to get out of here?! What do I do to get back home to help my siblings, what do I have to do?!?!? "

He breathed heavily and continued to stare around at the walls and floors again, even the ceiling, anywhere and everywhere for a clue… some way to get out of this hallway. He turned behind him to the wall.

" Maybe the wall is fake? " he questioned. He got up and knocked on the wall. Solid through and through. He cursed silently and looked up at the ceiling. Was there a trick with the ceiling? He ignored it seeing as how he could not and had no object to get up to the ceiling. He got to his knees and started trying to pull the stones out of the floor.

" C'mon, c'mon… one of you MUST be some kind of trick switch, right? " 

After a few minutes of no luck whatsoever, he fell backwards and sighed irritably. His stomach rumbled. He was hungry now, very hungry. He groaned.

" Oh, great. Now I'm hungry too… " He complained. It was then he turned and looked to see something… odd ahead. What was it? It was against one of the walls. His eyes had suddenly gone wide with astonishment as he jumped up.

" A door?! " he cried. He ran ahead to it. He stopped in front of the door and stared at it. It was quite a large door, a polished wood, sort of like a dungeon door. He looked around and then cautiously turned the dark doorknob. With a loud creak and a small shove, the door opened, revealing… the desert he had been outside of his dreams. 

He stopped as soon as he had gotten outside the door.

" What? Hey, why am I back out here? " he asked. He turned back to the door, but before he could go back in through it, it had closed shut on him. He went to go open it, but it had just vanished into a purple mist that gently floated away.

" The door… it just disappeared!! " he said, wide-eyed, " could that mean… that there is no way out of here for me? Did that hallway really end? Or did it just do what I do when I close my eyes too long? Maybe… I can't touch the doors either? "

He then turned around to see a tree a few ways in the distance. A tree? What was a tree doing out there? He ran over towards it, then stopped and stared. There was a tree there, and it seemed to have some a fruit of some sort growing on it. Beside the tree was a little pond what it seemed like, only without living things in it. He walked right up to the tree and put his hand on it. Staring up at it, he did not know what to do, all he did was stare.

" So… now what? How did I get here? Why is there a tree here, and water? " he asked, and continued looking up at the tree. He then looked down at the water, and took a deep breath. He closed his eyes and let himself fall again…

****

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He awoke yet again and sat up sleepily. He rubbed his eyes and then slowly opened them up. What he saw amazed him.

He was still in the dark, dead desert, but just some feet away from where he sat was the same tree he saw in his dream, and the little pool of water too.

" How did that… how could that have happened?! " Ludwig scrambled to his feet and ran to the tree and the little pool. 

He smiled, it was just like in his dream. The tree grew, what it looked like, some kind of food, a kind of fruit he assumed. At least, that's what he had guessed it was in his dream. And the water was there too, of course. He looked at his reflection in the water. He thought he had looked somewhat different. How, he could not explain, nor did his mind even know how he had changed, but he felt like he had in some way. He shrugged, then got to his knees. Cupping his hands, he dipped them in the water and then guzzled it down. Wow, it was drinkable! Satisfied, he fell back and laughed.

" I don't know why I'm laughing… there is no need, and this is not the time to be doing so either! But it just… the thought of a pool of water, **drinking** water for that matter, and a tree with another growing plant on it in a dead desert is just absurd! " he rolled around, closed his eyes and continued to laugh.

He opened his eyes with a sigh and fixed his eyes on the deep violet sky plastered with the many bright burning stars. He felt so calm with this sight, he was tired again unsurprisingly, but he did not let himself fall asleep again. He just stared up at the sky and smiled contently, the sky made him feel happy, and carefree for some reason.

It was then that he had remembered his siblings and had jumped up, shaking. What was he doing, just laying around here laughing, having fun, when for all he knew his siblings could have been dead at that time! He then again had set his brain to work in order ( a/n: Hey, look. I made a joke ^-^… sorta.. ) to devise a plan that would hopefully get him back to the castle and before something had happened… or before anything else happened for that matter.

He then remembered his grumbling stomach, and gazed hungrily at the food up in the tree. But how did he know if it was edible or not?

" I wish I would have tested it in my dream, " Ludwig said aloud to himself, " but I don't see how that could be possible. "

He thought more about this as he continued to watch intently as the fruit hung by its thin stem. It was only seconds later when he looked down at the pool of water again.

" I should be able to eat it, right? I mean, I was able to drink the water… " he slowly explained to himself, though he **was** having quite a few problems trying to convince himself this being possible.

He resumed gazing at the foodstuff up in the tree yet again. It looked okay, but he was not sure about it still. This food seemed to be in the shape of a pear, only orange. 

He had slowly come in reach of the tree and put his hands on it. He looked up and down the tree, examining the shape and thickness of it.

" It does not seem to be very big… I should be able to just shake it out, " he muttered. He gripped the tree tightly and gave a hard and steady shake to the tree. The strange food object had shaken madly, still clinging onto the stem on its top by what it seemed like just a thread. So Ludwig tried to shake the tree again, yet it did not come out.

" That doesn't seem right, " he said, " it should be able to just come out of there… I wonder why it won't fall out? " He looked around the trunk of the tree. There was no way for him to climb up even. And if there were, he would not have wanted to climb up there anyway. He silently growled and continued to study the tall structure of horrible nature. ( a/n: take note that at this time nature DID actually seem horrible to Ludwig at that time. Why? Well, YOU tell ME why!! Lol ) After another few minutes of staring up at the tree yet again, he gripped the tree tightly yet again and gave the tree a mighty shake in anger. Instead of being difficult again, the food actually had fallen out of the tree and landed with a soft _thud_. Apparently proud of himself, he walked over to it and picked it up. Now all he hoped was that it was worth it, could he eat it?

He dug his claws into it, it felt quite squishy inside. He tore it open and saw that the inside was a deep red-orange, and very juicy. It had also had a very very sweet scent to it. 

He ran his finger along the inside of it, hesitated, then very cautiously licked the red substance off his finger. It had not also smelled sweet, but he had found that it also had tasted very sweet as well. 

Ludwig smiled, happy with the fact that this "fruit" would not kill him. He decided to call it a fruit, seeing as how it tasted very sugary, but not real sugar, natural sugars - like fruits.

He sat down and rested his back on the tree, and slowly ate the fruit. Another thing he had found out about this fruit was that it was also very sticky, like watermelon when it is very runny itself. That was no problem though, he could just rinse his hands in the water afterwards.

He gobbled down the rest of the fruit, washed his hands and face ( it had become such a mess when he was eating it ) and then curled up against the tree again. He was no longer hungry or thirsty, so that was a problem solved, two problems solved for now at least. Ludwig had then looked up at the sky.

" When did the sun set? Does it even set here? Then again… where is the sun!? _Is_ there even a sun here?! Why am I blabbing on like Morton?! " he cried.

Ludwig had then jumped up.

" I need to find a way back to the castle and quick!! Before something happens to them! " he yelled, and then started running. Dust flew into a cloudy, dense mist as he frantically ran, his legs flying everywhere.

What was he going to accomplish by running like this? He really did not know actually. But he did as he had done before so many times, and kept running as fast as he could. It was after that he had looked back. The pool of water and the tree were gone. So, he **was** getting somewhere, just as before. That served as a relief to him, but also a panic. Because where was he, he STILL did not know!

He stopped and fell tiredly to his knees. He had ran away from possibly his only chance of survival. He was so angry with himself that he let out a fierce growl and collapsed on his back. He then sighed and stared back up at the stars.

Still staring at the stars, he realised that he had met his match. He could not think of a way out of this… or could he? If he could, it could be an eternity before he came up with the answer he was looking for, and by then it could be too late.

" So… what do I do now? " he slowly asked himself, and again let himself drift off into another crazy dream.

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Jeshi: OH GOD!! OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD!! * *kicks herself, then glares at her fic, then at her calendar, then at her homework, and then at everything else that has kept her from writing her story (ies)* _ That's it…. REVERSE PSYCHOLOGY!!! I WILL TAKE AS LONG AS I WANT TO WRITE THE NEXT CHAPTER!!!

Larry: O_O!! I think you've gone insane…

Jeshi: Maybe I have, and maybe I haven't, either way… I AM MAD!!!! * *sigh* I've had school, ENDLESS amounts of homework, work, basketball scorekeeping, I have to STILL get my Learners' License validated before the 17th, CATERING CATERING AND **MORE** CATERING AT MY MOM'S RESTAURANT!! @_@ Dude, I can't WAIT for the Christmas ( "Winter" for you people who do not celebrate Christmas) holidays!!! T_T I'm gonna need the break... BADLY.

Larry: O_O… wow, you've been busy.

Jeshi: T_T Yeah, * Yet my dear mother seems to think that I've been living on my computer and drawing for the past 2 weeks! Now honestly, WHEN HAVE I BEEN ABLE TO GO ON THE COMPUTER?!!? HUH?!!? Sure, I've been on, but I have not been "living" on it, I mean, HOW can someone live on their computer if they've been on for only TWO AND A HALF HOURS IN THREE DAYS?!?!! O_O* OH!!! And the LAST time I have actually drawn something was at the beginning of November, or the end of October!! **ONE WHOLE MONTH!** @_@ Blegh… I'm starting to not have a life… and Kaira-chan and I haven't gone to Khafon in the LONGEST time!! T_T Kaira-chan! He's gonna think we died or something!! Lol

Larry: *sneaks away*

Jeshi: _ FINE! FINE, GO AHEAD AND LEAVE, I WILL JUST WHALLOP IN MY OWN SELF PITY!! Jkin, I won't do that. @_@ ^-^ Actually, I'm lucky that I have even HAD just the LITTLEST amount of time on the computer!! O_O At least I was actually able to get my chapter done… *glares at fic which she will now use reverse psychology in hopes of getting the next chapter done faster* and I'll just take my sweet-ass time getting the next chapter done, so don't hope on reading it for another month or two!! *laughs* hehehehe…that'll do. XD

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	10. The New Leader Retires!

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Jeshi: ^-^ Make it stand out more…BIGGER borders! XD *kicks brain* @_@ Stupid thing hasn't been working at all lately! And reverse psychology didn't work either!

Larry: She doesn't own anything from Mario..-_-; O_o…Jeshi..are you even sure people are reading this?!

Jeshi: Of course! If they weren't, then why were they leaving reviews?

Larry: -_-; No, I mean..what if they don't read your author notes? As in…what if they just don't care what you have to say or what announcements you have to make?

Jeshi: O_O..I've never thought of it that way, actually….Hmm…okies! ^-^ This is what we're going to do peoples! At the beginning of your reviews this chapter, you HAVE to put "ENK!!" at the VERY start of your reviews. 

Larry: O_o? How's that going to help?

Jeshi: ^-^;; Because, if they put "ENK!!" first, then it's obvious that they've read these author notes and if they don't, then they're very unobservant, because what if I needed to make an announcement and they never heard about it? They can't blame me ^_^

Larry: @_@

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Lemmy searched high and low throughout the castle, and he _still _could not find Roy. He let out a low growl. Sure, Roy had a bad temper, and he did not like taking orders from anyone, but at least he had listened to Ludwig! How was he any different? He was only a year younger!

"Roy! Where are you ?!" he called, but suddenly he quieted down. He did not want to be too loud, in case Melinda heard him, because that would mean that Roy was alone. Though he was sure that Roy was able to take care of himself, he did not want anything to happen to him.

They had all guessed that Melinda knew that they were always together, no one was alone anymore. And because of it, she had not tried anything else on them for the past 18 hours. Lemmy once thought he caught her digging chains out of a closet, but the moment their eyes met, she shut the closet and took off without anything. Any other time, she'd give him a cute look, as if she was planning to do something, but then when Larry had appeared by Lemmy's side, she would also back off then and leave them alone.

He assumed that she was still quite edgy of the idea of attacking them in their pairs, but at the same time, she seemed to be getting **very** frustrated with them all - yet she looked confused. She must have known that they had their own plans, but what they were she did not know.

Lemmy sighed and continued looking for Roy. Yeah. They had a plan all right, it was all a matter of people cooperating that was the issue now. The perfect example was Roy. Even after their little meeting in the throne room, Roy was still in a sour mood. And Lemmy knew it. The strange thing was that everyone had said that they would do anything to be rid of Melinda, even Roy, so why was he being the difficult one?

He stopped again and thought, "_Hmph. Because he's **Roy**, that's why!_"

Larry was suddenly by his side, and together the two of them continued their search.

" Lemmy… why isn't Roy listening to you? Why doesn't he try to help out?" Larry asked him. Lemmy had smiled a little, but then the smile fell into a frown.

"Larry, would Roy listen to _you_?" he asked. Larry sighed and shook his head.

"Roy doesn't listen to anything or anyone, does he?"

"Heh. Naw, but that's Roy for you."

"But I thought he wanted Melinda to leave also?"

"He does… he just… he doesn't like the idea of following orders from other people. He listened to Ludwig, well… barely. But at least he listened to an extent. I guess that's because Ludwig sort of had an authority, you know, because he was the oldest." Larry grinned, then laughed.

"Heh, I wish I had an authority. Maybe he wouldn't beat me up so much…" Larry then started of the day where Roy stopped threatening to beat the snot out of him. Lemmy patted Larry on the head and laughed a little as well.

"Don't get your hopes up, Larry. But maybe if you help him out while Melinda is still here, he may lay off of you for a while," Lemmy answered him.

"Hey! Maybe he'll just beat up Iggy instead?"

"Uh…" Lemmy gave a twisted face, "well…if he does, then it doesn't change much. Because then if Ludwig isn't back I'll have Iggy come running to me all the time for protection."

It had been then that Lemmy noticed that his little brother was no longer with him. He quickly turned around to see that Larry had only slowed his walk gradually until he was just standing in the corridor. He had his fists clenched and was staring hard at the floor.

"I miss Ludwig, Lemmy," Larry said, "He was smart, he was completely weird, we all thought he was nuts and confusing, he all thought we were stupid and juvenull." Lemmy scratched his head and raised an eyebrow.

"Uh…do you mean 'juvenile', Larry?" he asked. Larry looked up and glared.

"Whatever! It's still the same word!" Larry spat out at him. Lemmy smiled at him uncertainly, then walked back towards him.

"Hey, don't start with the bad attitude. It's not going to help us anymore than Roy is right now," Lemmy said. Larry suddenly looked up, he was ready to crack a smile at his brother's remark towards Roy. He saw the stupid smile on Lemmy's face, which had incidentally made him smile as well.   
"Ha, look. I got you to smile," Lemmy teased. Larry tried to give him a dirty look, but ended up failing due to his continued smiling.

"Your jokes aren't funny, you know. It was only funny because you made fun of Roy," Larry stated.

"Well then. Maybe I'll have to make fun of Roy more often," Lemmy smirked, then turned around to leave. Larry's eyes grew wide, and he followed him.

"You wouldn't, would you?" the now fascinated Larry inquired.

"Who said I wouldn't?" Lemmy answered smugly.

"In front of him also?!"

"Why not?"

"WHY?"

"Why not?"

"He'd beat you up!"

"Well, what if I beat HIM up?"

"HOW?!"

"How CAN'T I?"

"Because after that witch is gone, you'll be on that stupid ball again and you won't be able to walk on your own two feet, which will give ME the advantage and I'll kick your ass FIRST, as always," came the familiar and rude voice of Roy. Larry shook slightly, but looked towards Roy, Lemmy did the same.

"Roy! There you are!" Lemmy exclaimed, trying to change the subject, "where were you?!" Roy adjusted his shades and leaned against the wall. Folding his arms he answered, "Why should YOU know?"

"We NEED to know, Roy," Lemmy replied sternly.

"Heh. I can't remember the last time you were actually SERIOUS about something, Lemmy. But all the same, it doesn't matter, I'm back and that's all you need to worry about," Roy said. He then went to leave again.

"Roy! No! It DOES matter where you were and what you were doing! You were supposed to stay with Morton. Now if you don't, he'll go out and get himself into trouble!" Lemmy called after him. Roy stopped and turned back to him.

"I don't care, LOOMY. You're not doing any better of a job yourself," he called back, then left before Lemmy could ask him what he was talking about. But all Lemmy did was watch him leave and then shook his head.

"Arrggh! He's so stubborn… HOW does Ludwig deal with any of us?!" Lemmy said exasperated, and sat down by a wall. Larry stumbled over and joined him.

"He's the oldest, he can handle lots of things that we can't," Larry answered.

"No, it's not that. It's… how can he deal with Roy and his attitude, then there's another five of us, and it's true, I myself don't do anything to help the situation.." Lemmy sighed angrily and looked up at the ceiling, "..I just wish it would all go away."

"Me too," Larry added and looked up at the ceiling with him.

Lemmy and Larry sat there still, Larry sat there because Lemmy was sitting around as well, and he had nothing to do. But Lemmy was sitting there trying to think out some kind of action plan, whether it was a form of attack against Melinda or if it was just a plan to defend themselves… or even both sounded pretty good about now, but first he had think over the situation.

First, he had five other siblings to look after. Second, they all listen to him except for ONE individual, which happened to be the next oldest after him. Third, their dad was gone and they had no one to help them. He had tried to see if Kamek was around, but he guessed that Kamek took off with their father for the week. Fourth, they already had one of their family members missing. Fifth, was he dead or alive? And would they FIND him even?! And their sixth problem was the predicament that they had originally started with… getting rid of that crazy woman! And now it seemed as if it was a matter of life or death.

He groaned. But how was the Melinda problem going to be dealt with if Roy would not cooperate with him? He thought hard about this. Lemmy had then sighed shortly after.

"Unless we just let Roy do his own thing and we have Morton tag along with us," he said.

"Lemmy!" Larry snapped, "you can't do that, because then it would be ROY in charge, and it's not Roy, it's you!"

"I know, but he doesn't listen, and if I don't do something he's just going to get worse."

"But Lemmy… we need a leader. We may not like it, but we need one. Ludwig had even said-"

"Yeah, and Ludwig had ALSO said that we had to work together! But he's not listening to that either!"

"Lemmy, please don't give up. Not until she's gone… please. For us, and Ludwig!"

Lemmy looked at the hopeful expression on his little brother's face. He had not remembered Larry looking up at him like that before. Any other time Larry was either rolling his eyes at Lemmy's stupid jokes or he was giving him a mischievous grin. Of course after the grin Lemmy would find himself falling off his ball if he was on it, or just falling down all together because of one of Larry's usual tricks. What a sneaky little bugger his brother was! But to this, Lemmy could not help but smile.

"Alright. I won't give into him yet," Lemmy cringed, "even if he beats me up." Larry had then smiled also.

"Yeah. If he doesn't like it, too bad!" he said joyfully, and then hopped to his feet and started running down the hallways, obviously in search of Roy. Lemmy had gotten up also and followed his little brother.

"Larry, where are you going?" he called.

"I'm going to help you find Roy, and then you're going to get him to find Morton and stay in the pairs he was assigned!!" Larry called back. Lemmy did not seem to think this was such a wise idea, but he continued to follow Larry anyway.

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"Rrrrrroy Koopa!! Is Roy Koopa in the castle today?" Morton yelled as he marched down the hallways. Roy had sent him to get a cupcake out of the closet just recently, and as strange as it sounded to Morton, he had gone in to look for it. When he had backed out of the closet after giving up his search he had found that his older brother was not there.

Being Morton, he had not thought much about it, so he began a new search, both for Roy **and** this hidden cupcake!

"Maybe he is lost? Maybe he is hiding?" Morton had then gasped, "maybe he took the cupcake for himself!" Morton furrowed his eyebrows and looked around. Lemmy had said to stay together.

"I'm alone! Alone! Now I'm gonna get in trouble because either Roy took off and hurt himself, or maybe Lemmy will run into me and yell at me! And then I will laugh! Laugh in his face, because maybe he will do something stupidly funny and try to jo0ke around, he might expect an applause or laughter. But even if he's being serious I will laugh anyway! And then maybe he will laugh and then we will all laugh, and then before we know it, the whole kingdom will be laughing! I feel like laughing right now and then later because it is so funny! Hahahaha!!" Morton said to himself. After he had had his own fit of laughter he began marching down the hallway again calling quite loudly for Roy.

He then took a turn down a hallway and came face-to-face with a boo.

"BOO!!" Morton yelled at it and laughed. He then stopped and stared at the mischievous face the paranormal creature was giving him.

"Have you seen Roy today? I have reason to believe that he has run off with a cupcake! Very eccentric is it not?" Morton raised his eyebrow at the floating transparent ghoul and awaited an answer. The boo gave its usual high-pitched and spooky laugh, and continued to stare at Morton. Morton blinked and tilted his head to the side.

"What are you talking about?! I can't understand one word you are saying! Well, I couldn't before, but I still can't now! Why don't you make sense! Cut down on the booze and start speaking English, not stoned!" He demanded. The boo did nothing but stare at him still with its dark eyes. Morton then waved his hands in front of it.

"Helllllooo!! Are you even listening to me?!" He yelled at it…

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Iggy and Wendy had been informed of Roy's utter ignorance and disobedience which, in the least, did not surprise them. They had been given the order to send Roy to Lemmy immediately if they happened to have run into him that day. And if they would run into Morton, to take him along with them. Of course Wendy and Iggy had feared running into Morton, but even more so Iggy had much more feared running into Roy.

The two of them had made the journey down to Roy's bedroom and had dared to enter it. But to their dismay (and Iggy's relief) Roy was not there.

"So where is he?!" demanded Wendy. Iggy shrugged.

"Why don't we just stop looking for him?" Iggy had suggested. Wendy rolled her eyes at him and began another walk down the hallways.

"This is stupid. He's the only one who has be an idiot about all of this!" she growled and headed back to Iggy. After Iggy had slipped out of the room, she slammed it shut behind him. Iggy had jumped and took off to the side of her, while she stomped around in another fit.

"I don't know, Wendy. Larry and Lemmy said they had not seen him almost all day themselves. They had once, but he got snide with them and took off," Iggy had called after her. She threw a glare at him and continued her stomping march.

"Well, we have better things to do than baby sit him!!" she yelled. Iggy slightly nodded in agreement and followed slowly behind his sister, still lagging enough to get a closer inspection of everything else that Wendy might have missed. That and he did not want to receive another scowling look from her.

He had been in the middle of looking over a plant by a wall when he saw Wendy frantically run over to him, waving her arms so in order to keep her balance on her heels.

"Iggy! Iggy!!" she cried, stopped in front of him and looked around. She then lowered her voice.

"Iggy!! Get Lemmy, we have to get him quick!" she said quickly. Iggy gave her a confused look and raised an eyebrow.

"What? But why-" he had started.

"C'mon!! NOW!" she hissed and took off the same way they had come. Iggy had jumped, adjusted his glasses and followed her in a jogging pace.

In what it seemed like almost seconds, they had been running down that exact hallway again, only with Lemmy and Larry with them. Wendy had found the spot and pointed out to Lemmy. The four of them all stopped and stared down at the floor with wide eyes. 

There laying on the floor, twitching slightly with his eyes wide and shaken was none other than Morton. Lemmy fell down to his knees right by Morton and sat him up. He grabbed his shoulders and looked at his eyes.

"Wow… Morton! What happened?!" he asked him. Morton did nothing but keep twitching, not even blinking. Lemmy looked back up at the anxious looks of Wendy and Iggy, and then shook Morton.

"Morton! Come on!! What happened?!" he asked again, but still getting no answer from him. He shook him harder.

"Morton!! What's the matter with you?!" He let go of Morton, who still sat there in his shocked state and shook his head.

"So what happened to him?" Lemmy asked Iggy and Wendy, praying that they had the answer. They shook their heads much to Lemmy's disappointment. Lemmy curled and uncurled his fists and looked back at Morton. He then got up and walked around, fuming.

"L-Lemmy?" Larry asked, "are you okay?" Lemmy sarcastically nodded to Larry, took a deep breath and stared at the floor. Everyone went quiet. The only sound they could hear was anything from Morton, which sounded more like he was shivering.

"**ROY!!!!!**" Lemmy had suddenly screamed as loud as he could. It had made Larry, Iggy and Wendy all jump, completely startled at the volume of their older brother's voice. And this was not even his normal joking voice either, it was angry and serious! They all stood around, horrified as they watched Lemmy pace about the room, still curling and uncurling his fists in rage. It had been minutes later when Roy had poked his head through the doorway.

"Hehe, you rang?" he greeted sarcastically. Lemmy shot a glare at him.

"YOU!! Where were you?!" Lemmy demanded. Roy raised an eyebrow and leaned against a wall.

"That's none of your business," he answered smugly.

"It IS my business, Roy," Lemmy growled, "because you all agreed to follow me, and you are the only one who's turned against your word."

"Who said I turned against my word? I'm still helpin' get rid of her, aren't I?" he asked.

"No you aren't, Roy! If you were, then Morton would not be like this right now!" Lemmy pointed over at Morton. Roy looked over at him and raised his eyebrows.

"Heh, the kid's fine," he answered.

"What do you mean 'he's fine?!' What is so 'fine' about him?! Unless you did it?" Lemmy asked suspiciously. Roy laughed.

"Me?! HA! That's a good one. I don't know what's goin' on, but he's still living, I mean look at him!" Roy replied.

"LOOK AT HIM INDEED!! HE WON'T SPEAK TO US!!" Lemmy yelled, "maybe if you would have listened for once and stayed in your pairs, this wouldn't have happened!! Not only do you not listen to given instructions, but you are very irresponsible!" Roy glared at him and stood up straight. Their other siblings all watched silently as Roy took a few steps forward threateningly and stood face-to-face with Lemmy.

"Oh yeah? And YOU are?!" Roy retorted. Lemmy had returned the threatening look and nodded.

"Yeah. Not always, but when I need to be, I WILL be. Unlike YOU," he replied. 

"Is that so? Heh, then there ain't a whole lot for you to be serious about," Roy laughed at him. Lemmy continued to glare.

"You listened to Ludwig, so why am I different?!" Lemmy asked. Roy shook his head.

"You ain't leader material," he replied.

"I'm more leader material than YOU ever will be," Lemmy shot back at him. An outraged look filled Roy's face and he looked like he was about to bring his fist up. Lemmy balled up his own fists just in case. They may not be able to do much, but at least they would give him some kind of protection if Roy decided to hit him.

"What makes ya think that?!" Roy raised his voice.

"Well, if you were in charge, we'd all be doing our own thing and we'd all be in trouble already. As for me, I followed after Ludwig, who gave us order, and I am maintaining that order like we should be doing, because HIS idea worked!" Lemmy said hotly.

"I'll show YOU what will work… my fist!" Roy raised his fist to Lemmy's face. Lemmy pulled his head back away from Roy's fist and studied it without letting Roy see at all that Lemmy was not up for the idea of getting a black eye. Falling down the stairs was enough, but any other injuries would NOT look good for him… at least that was what he thought. Instead, Lemmy had kept as composed as possible.

"That's your problem Roy. You handle EVERYTHING with violence, what ever happened to using your brain? Unlike now when your little brother was attacked-"

"Whadda ya mean 'attacked'?! How can YOU prove that?!" Roy yelled.

"How can YOU prove that he WASN'T'!?" Lemmy yelled back.

"Well how can you prove that he was in the first place?!" Roy yelled louder.

"Well, I'm seeing that it's kind of obvious, Roy. Seeing as how you never listened and didn't stick with your pair like you were supposed to, and NOW look what's happened!!! Unless 'Professor Roy' has the REAL diagnosis to what happened to Morton! And if you do, I would DEFENITELY like to hear it," Lemmy snarled and crossed his arms. He stared Roy down, he could tell he had caught Roy there, for he was obviously at a loss for words. All the same, Roy did NOT look very amused.

"LISTEN!! I'm not sure WHAT happened to him, but whatever it is, I'm sure it has to do with YOUR crappy leadership!" Roy bellowed.

"What's the matter with the way I lead things?!" Lemmy yelled back.

"You don't even use your own ideas! You've just been using Ludwig's!" Roy laughed as he pointed out the obvious fact. Now Lemmy had nothing to say. It was true, he had been using Ludwig's ideas, but only for certain reasons. As for thinking up his own, he had no clue what he could do to save them all. Fortunately for him, yet unfortunately, Larry had cut in on him.

"Roy, he has to use Ludwig's ideas because Ludwig's ideas are more sensible at this time. Think about it, we had stayed together for how long when Ludwig was around, we listened to him and were in our pairs, and nothing happened, right? The only time something happened was when the pairs were not together. So it's obvious that Lemmy was just keeping with the idea until he could think up his own to attack her, because we already have a defence. And unlike you, Lemmy's been trying, what have YOU done?" Larry said. The others looked from Larry to Roy in a surprised state. Larry actually had the guts to tell Roy off like that? Roy glared him down and started heading towards him.

"Larry… just SHUT UP. Unless YOU wanna get a beating yourself," Roy threatened. Larry's eyes had gone wide and he had started backing up. Roy had tried to follow, but Lemmy had gotten in the way of the both of them.

"Roy! Leave him alone. We have other issues to deal with, there is no need to pulverize your little siblings!" Lemmy said. Roy shot him another look.

"I've had enough of YOU! Why don't ya just get lost already?!" Roy yelled at Lemmy. Despite the fact that Lemmy did not like being screamed at by Roy, or threatened for that matter, he still stood his ground - and Larry's for that matter.

"ROY! I'm not getting lost because we need someone to keep in charge-" started Lemmy.

"**I** can do that JUST fine, and I should have a long time ago!" Roy yelled again.

"What?! You can't! You have no idea how to handle this," Lemmy said, surprised, "it already took me how long to get you all to trust me, and you're the one who only thinks with his fists, how are YOU going to handle any situation?! "

"Heh, funny you should ask that. And I have my answer: THE WAY THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE HANDLED, YA FREAK!" Roy smirked and got right in Lemmy's face. Lemmy gave him a disgusted look.

"I'm not saying I'm equal to Ludwig… and I'm not saying that Ludwig was the best of leaders, but at least he was the best out of the seven of us-"

"Yeah, right. I'm not equal to Ludwig either… I will be better than Ludwig!" Roy said triumphantly. Lemmy's face twisted in anger.

"You idiot!! You think so highly of yourself, your strength and violence leads you, and it is from that manner that leads us. You are doing nothing but making this dilemma worse. You are going to do nothing but put another's life or even more peoples' LIVES in danger," Lemmy replied sharply.

"HA! YOU think so. Like I said, I'm already toppin' you AND Ludwig put together. I shoulda been running this a long time ago, we probably would have had that witch gone already. Face it, LOOMY, you just don't have what it takes!" Roy smirked provokingly.

Lemmy continued to glare at his brother. How stupid he was being. He had no sense of logic or strategy whatsoever. He had to admit, he himself did not have any, but at least he knew he needed it, and he knew what it was. In that case, he would be able to think of it, but as for Roy, Roy seemed to think that it was pointless to even think - to even use your brain AND your muscles rather than just muscles and fighting.

He did not like the way this was turning out. Roy would not give up, Roy was ready to kill him and Larry, Roy was so damn difficult to even SPEAK with! And so stubborn, the only reasoning you would ever get through to him was probably saying that you "give up". Lemmy changed his scowling face into a cold-hearted stare.

"Fine then, Roy. You can be our leader. I will have nothing else to do with it, hope you have fun. The fate of us all rests in your hands, on YOUR shoulders," he said, and with that, turned and headed to the doorway.

"Heh, 'bout time," Roy said crossing his arms, obviously proud of himself.

"Lemmy! No! Don't do that," Iggy said, "don't listen to Roy, you've been doing good so far." Lemmy did nothing but shake his head.

"No, according to our leader I have done nothing but cause more trouble, so I have resigned, I have stepped down like he wanted me to and pass on leadership. If you need anything at all, take it up with him," Lemmy answered and pointed at Roy. Iggy, still shocked at the even that had just taken place, shook his head at Lemmy but said nothing. He could not find anything to say to him. Lemmy nodded at Wendy, who stood there with her lips pursed and a disgusted look at Roy, and then he turned and left the room.

He had only gotten a few ways from the room when he heard little footsteps following him. He turned around and his face met a small fist in the eye. It had been painful, yes. But at least it was not as bad as what Roy could do. He rubbed the injured area of his face and looked down to see Larry standing there glaring at him.

"Larry?" 

"You said you wouldn't give up…" Larry spat, then turned and ran back to the other room where everyone else was. Lemmy watched him leave with his one eye and sighed.

"I guess… not only did I lie to my brother, but I really **did** get that black eye…" he said to himself shamefully.

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Jeshi: TADA, after HOW many weeks, I have been able to work on it and finish it XD

Larry: O_O Oh man…and it's only on chapter 10..

Jeshi: ^_^ indeed!! Hopefully I'll update soon..unless I get writers' block…O-o…anyways… Like I am STILL saying, I'm sorry for the long update, and it's obvious that reverse psychology does NOT work at all. And remember to put "doorbell" at the BOTTOM of your reviews…XD I'm still doin' the test, lol.

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	11. The Chain Chomps Have Gone Mad!

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Jeshi: o_o…WOW. I can't believe people actually did it!

Larry: O_o.. Wow.

Jeshi: O_O You all actually put "enk" and "doorbell" in your reviews?! *points at Larry and laughs* HAHA! TOLD YOU THEY LISTENED TO MY MINDLESS CHATTER!

Larry: O_o… Shut up, or I'll send the piranha plants after you.

Jeshi: ANYWAY. @_@ Blegh. Sorry people, but the updates won't be happening as often as they did when I first started writing. It's been a little busy with school recently, because my English and Math teachers both like to give homework. Well, it's more like I HATE my english teacher ((T_T and that's like..my favourite subject!! OH, WHY did she have to ruin it by teaching it?!)) and my math teacher is just plain…O-o evil…but she considers me and Kaira-chan as…weird - so we all balance out in the end there XD

Larry: O_O ANYWAY…she doesn't own anything from Mario.

Jeshi: Nope…sadly enough @_@.

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They had to admit, having Roy, as their leader was NOT the best course of action. His siblings had next to no faith in him for starters, and they would be damned if they even started! They had found that none of them could find a way to put their safety or trust in the hands of Roy. It was pretty obvious why. Not very many people would!

This had been proven when Larry had returned from hitting Lemmy. The last four siblings stood about waiting for orders from their new leader. Fortunately enough, he had none to dish out to them at that time.

But even after that…he never did have any orders for them! Unless it meant something stupid, like running around in circles until they fell, but…that really was not an order to take from someone like Roy, regardless of his "authority". They all doubted that his ideas would be good anyway.

Lemmy had next to nothing to do with his siblings after Roy took over. He would lay back and watch over them of course, but he never took part in anything they did, but that was simply for the fact that Roy did not want him around.

Today Lemmy sighed as he watched Iggy take off into the dungeons…alone. It was obvious that Roy did not make them stay together, but what could he expect? It was Roy after all. 

Morton still had not said anything. He did the usual twitching and gave an occasional whimper, but did or said nothing else. Once or twice Lemmy had requested to see Morton in hopes of helping them a bit trying to "revive" him, but Roy would snap at him and shooed him away before he could even get near.

"Get lost, I'm doin' just fine!" he would yell as Lemmy marched off down the hall.

_"Just because I'm not allowed to play 'leader' anymore, Roy, doesn't mean that I can't be concerned about my little siblings…"_ Lemmy thought as he sat down on the floor. He leaned against the wall and stared ahead across the hall, directly at their family portrait. His eyes focused on Ludwig.

"Ludwig…we really need you…"

* * *

"Let's go, Morton! Rise and shine!" Iggy said excitedly as he pushed Morton over. Morton still had his eyes wide open, and he continued his trembling fit.

"Morton Koopa Jr.!" Wendy snapped as she swatted Morton over the back of the head, "c'mon! You are always ready to blab, you stupid chatterbox!"

Morton had suddenly took a deep gasp, and his brothers and sister watched with great intent for any other movement.

"Come on, Morton…" Larry said quietly, and then he gave Morton a little shake. Morton had suddenly jumped, as though shot with a bolt of lightning.

"BOO!" he screamed hysterically. His abrupt burst of life had been so swift that it also had his surrounding family jump and scream as well.

"Morton! You think this is some kind of joke?!" Iggy yelled, completely outraged at Morton. Morton had then returned to his trembling state.

"Boooooo…" he repeated, slowly and quietly. Roy shook his head angrily, then came up and gave Morton another shake on the shoulders.

"Morton…c'mon!" he yelled, "quit layin' around an' get up ya idiot." Morton just sat there, shaking his head back and gazing up at Roy with a deep look of fear and confusion, answered with, "Boooo…" again.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Larry glared at Morton. Morton pointed off into another room absentmindedly.

"Boooo..BOO!!" Morton then screamed again. His siblings again had jumped when Morton screamed, then remained still, all thinking about what Morton was trying to say, if he was trying to say anything at all.

"Why would he be repeating 'boo'?" Iggy inquired as he fiddled with his glasses. While doing so, Wendy had risen to her feet and headed off in the direction in which Morton was pointing. She stared off in the other room that he had pointed to with a look of dismay on her face. A boo had flown into the room, stopped and looked at her. She looked back. Boo then shot her a goofy look, with its eyes rolling around in its transparent body and lolling out of its mouth. She shivered watching it. That was nothing like the fun-filled ghosts they knew before. If they were going to stick their tongues out at them, they would have at least whipped it around and made sure to hit them with saliva. Boos were a little TOO goofy sometimes, even disgusting. She shook her head and turned back to her brothers.

It was then that the idea had hit her.

"Hey wait!!" she cried, then pointed into the room where the boo had been, "maybe Boo has something to do with it?"

"Hey…maybe-" Iggy started.

"**BOO!!**" Morton screamed, then fell on his back and rolled from side to side in a mad fit.

"AHA! Maybe it _was_ something to do with boo!" Larry exclaimed, suddenly springing to his own feet and running into the room where the lethargic boo had been. He looked around anxiously, and then sure enough, found the boo hovering in a corner of the room.

"Hey, boo!" Larry yelled at it. The boo slowly turned its eyes towards him with extreme boredom.

"Oh boooo…hey, would you know what happened to Morton?" he asked it. The boo stared at him still, and he stared at it.

Larry did not know why, but he seemed to feel as if his whole body was jelly, he felt like he was going to fall. And the boo's eyes acted as if he was sucking the life out of him somehow. He felt tired, and the boo floated there, still with its bored eyes, it's deceased nature filling that one particular area of the room. Larry shook slightly, and then felt himself falling backwards, but before he could fall, Iggy had caught him.

"Hey, Larry, what's the matter with you?" he heard Iggy ask, but he sounded faint, as though far away. Larry gazed up at him with inanimate eyes.

"I…I…." Larry stuttered. He saw Wendy looking down on him, and Roy just glared.

"He's faking it," he heard Roy announce, "quit pissin' around, Larry."

"I don't think so, Roy. He was just fine a second ago," came Iggy's voice again.

"BOO! What the hell did you do to Larry?!" came the ever-so-familiar shriek of none other than Wendy. 

The boo looked at her with the same strange gaze it had given Larry, and possibly Morton. She glared and turned away from it.

"It's gotta be something to do with the way he's looking at me.." she said angrily. Iggy nodded.

"It just might be…Larry was fine until he started talking to boo, and he was looking at him. You were talking to boo, but you turned away," Iggy agreed. Roy rolled his eyes. They actually thought that did they? Well, to Roy it was more the idea that Larry and Morton were probably faking, or had just become scared of the paranormal.

Roy quickly looked at both Larry and then at Morton, then back at Larry.

"Hmm…let's see here….LARRY, GET THE HELL UP, **NOW**!!" he screamed. Larry and Morton had suddenly bolted from their state of shock and screamed.

Upon calming them down, they had asked what had happened with Larry and Morton. Morton looked up again with wide eyes and a look of fear spread across his face.

"That boo has gotten evil!! I swear it is…all of them…all of them, all!! You take one look at them, not two, but ONE look and they'll put you in a complete state of paralysis!! Paralysis!! You cannot move, or blink or speak or eat, or do anything else like run or walk or jump or-" Morton had started.

"Morton, shut it." Came Wendy's reply, "so what's going on? The boos can't be trusted anymore or anything?"

"I don't know," answered Larry, shaking his head, "they HAVE gotten weird…it's as if they hypnotize you and you can't do anything about it. And then you don't know what has been happening until you wake up again…like you were sleeping."

"It's as if you are in some kind of a dream world… a dream world of dreams!! Happy dreams, of when father was back and we were all happy!" Morton announced. Everyone sighed.

"Morton, just shush it," Iggy replied. Roy huffed and stepped in between them all.

"Hmph. See? I know what I'm doin'. You've all got a great leader standin' here in front of ya," he said, pointing to himself. Larry rolled his eyes at his self-centredness and asked, "so…now what?"

Everyone then waited for Roy to give them directions.

"Well…just….well, what do _you_ all want to do?" he asked. They shrugged.

"Why don't we just run away?" Iggy suggested.

"How about we all just try to work together for once? Like when Ludwig was still around?" came Lemmy's voice. Roy growled and narrowed his eyes at the sound of Lemmy's voice, while the others cringed at hearing their eldest brother's name. Was he deceased or not? Either way, it had scared them to hear it.

"I'm really sure he would have wanted us to work together, but…Roy's the leader now…" Iggy said sadly. Roy growled at him, and Iggy suddenly hid his face behind his hands in fear.

"Lemmy, get lost," Roy answered. Lemmy entered the room and then leaned against a wall, his arms crossed.

"No, Roy. This is getting nowhere. In the time you've done nothing, we could have had a plan, we could have put it to action, we could have made progress somehow," Lemmy pointed out to him. He looked over at Iggy, who had been brave enough to bring his hands down just enough to let Lemmy see that he was listening to him. Wendy had bit her lip and crossed her own arms, staring down at the floor. Larry did nothing but turn away, while Morton looked around, completely confused. Then there was Roy - the most outraged of them all.

"Lemmy…get out. I'm fine. See, I got Morton to straighten up," he said and gave Morton a shove.

"Roy, you yelled at him, I swear I could hear you from halfway across the castle."

"Lemmy, shut up and get out already. I'm doin' a much better job than you were, at least I'm being listened to."

"You're not a good leader, Roy," Larry answered quietly. Everyone looked at him, completely astonished - whilst Roy looked at Larry, completely angered.

"What was that?!" he yelled, then raised his fist. Larry winced and awaited the blow to his head.

"Roy, **don't** you hit him," Lemmy warned him, "just because I'm not the kind of guy who will hit someone, I WILL hit you if you touch him."

"Lemmy…shut up. Just shut up…" Larry glared at both Roy and Lemmy and left the room. Iggy hesitated, wondering if he should follow Larry or not, but had then decided to just stay where he was in case Roy got mad. And if Roy got mad, then… well, he got REALLY mad! Wendy pouted again and complained that they were not getting anything done to get rid of their own big "problem" (Melinda), but instead of Roy and Lemmy talking to each other about it and settling it, they ended up all standing there in complete silence.

Larry had found himself alone in another room, completely dark. He looked out of a window and sighed, then rubbed his eyes tiredly. He had gotten less and less sleep every night, and he felt terrible.

Just seconds ago he had been quite proud of Lemmy, he was taking a stand for himself, and he had even stood up for him. But he had been even more upset that Lemmy had given up in the first place; and then felt even worse after he mentioned that so much could have been done while Roy was goofing around. Sadly, it was true. And now he felt like their problem with Melinda could have been taken care of a long time ago, but it was not. She was still there. Again, he sighed and then watched the chain chomps outside run around.

"Dammit, Roy!! Quit being stupid!! This is not the time to good around!" came the yell of Lemmy.

"Look who's talkin', if anything, _you_ are the one who is goofin' around. Get out of here already!!" came the unmistakable reply of Roy.

"Roy! You're just being stupid now-"

"You're the one who's being stupid, now get out of here, before I decide to beat the crap out of you.."

"Roy…you always say that. Just quit it already, we need to form a plan-"

"I'm doin' that just fine on my own, now get **OUT**."

"Roy-"

"**_GET_**!"

Everything then went silent. Though Larry was still quite angry with Lemmy, he could not help but wonder if he was okay. Did he leave? Did Melinda get them all now? Did Roy hit him? Did the boos all attack them at once and paralyse them? Why was there not anyone saying anything out there now? What was going on? 

He was afraid to go back for fear to see that Roy had suddenly went mad and killed Lemmy… but he was also afraid to stay where he was in case Melinda or some other boo-drone of hers were still lingering about. Nerves shaking madly, he slipped into the darkest corner of the room and crouched against the wall. Trying to keep his breaths deep and quiet, he waited.

He was not sure how long he waited, but eventually he had heard someone creeping into the room. He closed his eyes tight and prayed that they could not see him. Whoever or whatever it was must have heard him though, he could feel its presence drawing nearer.

"Larry?" Came its familiar voice, quiet and gentle sounding, as though trying not to scare him. Larry was sure it was Lemmy, and wanted to find out if it was, but he was too scared to move or say anything, in case it was a trick. He decided to stay quiet and hoped it would go away.

"…I can see you. I'm sorry, Larry. Really, I am. I was not well prepared for Roy to be so difficult." There was a shuffling sound, and then Larry could feel the figure beside him.

He slowly opened his eyes and forced them to see, praying for the best.

Beside him was Lemmy. Though it was dark, he could still see a big red scratch on his cheek, and he looked very downhearted, which was very strange to see in Lemmy.

"Lemmy…?" Larry said inaudibly. He turned his head and looked up into Lemmy's eyes, Lemmy did the same. Larry did not say anything though, he just stared at him - particularly at the scratch on his cheek. Lemmy had smiled slightly and then put his hand on the scratch.

"I left while telling Roy off. He followed, we argued more, he took a few swings at me. Unfortunately, I came out of it with a scratch, though he did miss me for the most part."

Lemmy's eyes softened more while he continued to stare at Larry.

"I really am sorry, Larry…" he said quietly. Larry lowered his head and turned away from him, still somewhat disappointed.

"You told me you wouldn't give up," he answered. Lemmy nodded.

"Yeah, I know I did. And I really hate myself for promising that to you, and not keeping that promise. But like I had said about Roy being difficult-"

"Roy has always been difficult, and you know it. But did Ludwig ever give up? No, of course he didn't. Though older than us, and probably with the craziest of ideas, he was strong in his mind, his beliefs. Why can't you be like that, Lemmy? Why?" Larry asked. Lemmy bit his lip and sighed.

"I know… Ludwig was great. We may have not gotten along with him all the time or anything, but at least he did the best he could."

"I really hope he's still alive."

"We all do, Larry."

"Because if he is, then he can come back and replace **you**." 

Lemmy looked back at Larry. Frustration was written all over his face. It seemed that Larry had no more faith in him, which was really bad. If their siblings would not listen to them, how else would they be able to survive until their father gets back?

The room was suddenly illuminated by a large torch, in which Melinda had been carrying in with her. 

"Children, what ARE you doing in here?" she asked sweetly.

"Nothing," Lemmy snapped, and quickly rose to his feet; Larry did the same.

"Ohhh..Lemmy, are you in a bad mood tonight?" she asked sarcastically.

" Uh… yeah, that's it. I'm just… not in a good mood at all," he answered and lowered his head. Larry took a deep breath and tried to keep from going completely hysterical. He turned and looked back out the window. The strange thing though now was that the chain chomps out there were all eyeing their window suspiciously. 

'_What are they doing out there?_' he thought. They had not been doing that before, but now they seemed as though upset about something.

"Well, why don't you just come with me. We can find you maybe a nice glass of water, or soup.." Melinda continued.

"No, that's fine. I'm just fine, I just need to go to bed," he answered.

"I could take you to your bedroom if you would like-"

"No. I can find it myself."

"But dear, you really do not look very good at all. You sure you do not need help-"

"I can find it _myself_, but thanks anyway..uh…Mom.."

Melinda froze. The…brat…called…her…_Mom_?! What was he playing at? What was he up to that she did not know about? She looked him over…yes, he was like Ludwig, or so it seemed. Did not look like much of a threat at first, but they play with your mind.

_'He's good at mind games, isn't he?…_' Melinda thought, '_no matter, I'll make sure this brat is next.._'

"Oh! You called me "Mom!" That is SOOOO cute!" she exclaimed with happiness and then wrapped her arms around Lemmy in a very tight hug. Lemmy felt like she was trying to squeeze him so hard that his head popped off or something.

"Uh…yeah…" Lemmy replied. 

That was when Larry noticed it. The chain chomps. They were running around in circles, as though ready to pounce any second now. They barked and yanked at their posts until they ripped out of the ground and the chain chomps were free… and they were headed towards that very window.

Eyes wide in terror, Larry backed up and into Lemmy and Melinda.

"Larry, watch where you are going…DEAR," Melinda said snidely. Larry pointed a shaky finger at the window.

"The..the chain chomps…" he said. Lemmy tried to see what was going on, but was having trouble seeing over Melinda's enormous arms. But he could see just a bit of the chain chomp herd heading their way.

"Oh… Larry, dear," Melinda said with her high and sweet-sounding voice again, "do you remember the first time you lied to me about that?" Larry shook his head.

"No… look, they're really…they've gone mad!!" he yelled. Lemmy nodded.

"I think they have too," Lemmy added in. Melinda shook her head and sighed with frustration at Larry.

"Larry… this is not funny anymore. I've had your sister lie once, I definitely do NOT need you doing it as well. It is probably your active imagination."

"No, I'm serious!!! Look, they're coming, NOW!" he screamed, then tried to run. But before he could get anywhere, Melinda had suddenly shot her hand out and grabbed him by the arm.

"Ack!! No! Come ON! We have to go, before they come and.." Larry yelled while struggling to yank his arm out of Melinda's hand. He growled and tugged harder, but then gave a yelp in pain when she squeezed his arm tighter.

"Larry…don't…be.." Melinda had started.

"I don't think he's kidding, Ma!" Lemmy screamed hysterically, noticing now that all he could see out of that window was at least five large pairs of teeth. 

"What are you-"

Before anyone else could say or do anything, the wall of the room had been completely demolished by the swarm of humungous chain chomps, all barking and biting wildly. Melinda quickly threw the two koopalings in front of the chain chomps, hoping for them to eat or crush the children, and then ran for her own life out of the room and down the halls.

Larry opened his eyes, chain chomps all around him and Lemmy.

"AHH!!" Larry suddenly screamed, and held his hands over his head. The chain chomps crowded around them and barked happily.

"…Larry?" he heard Lemmy ask, "why…haven't they eaten us yet?"

"I..I don't know.." came the reply.

"Well..they're stupid animals. Maybe they're blind?"

"I don't know…probably not, because how could they have found their way to this room?"

"…echolocation?"

"Ecka-what?"

"No wait…I think that was what the swoopers use.."

"What are you talking about?!"  
"They don't have to be able to see to find us, Larry."

They both heard a yawning sound. Where the chain chomps bored? Larry slowly removed his hands from his head and peered up at the large creatures to find that they were just sitting there, watching them.

"Uh…Lemmy?"

"What?"

"Look."

Lemmy had also looked to see the chain chomps. They had all rested peacefully by Lemmy and Larry, as if awaiting their own orders.

"Um…hi, guys?" Lemmy said nervously. The chain chomps all seemed to perk up slightly, and one barked happily again. And as did the others in turn. Lemmy raised an eyebrow at Larry, who did the same.

"That was strange…they were just wild and angry a minute ago," said Larry. Lemmy nodded in agreement.

"Really?" came his reply.

"Yeah. They were fine until Melinda came in, then after Melinda put her hands on you, they started…" Larry did not finish the sentence. His eyes widened in amazement, and he stared at Lemmy, who did the same. A smile had then come across Lemmy's face.

"Hey…do you think they…?"

"I..I don't know..possibly..you think so?"

"It's a theory."

"It's a good theory."

"It makes sense."

"It's amazing.."

"We have our asses covered." 

"You think?"

"You know what I think?"

"What?"

"Heh, me _thinks_ I **know** we are saved for the time being - with or without Ludwig."

The two sat, still staring. They then grew the biggest grins either of them had worn in a long time. They both then laughed hysterically and hugged each and every chain chomp around them.

"Good boys!!" Larry encouraged them, which had made them much more happier, not that they had not been already. 

"Yeah, VERY good!" Lemmy added and tried to polish off a spot on one. After hugging the chain chomps, Lemmy and Larry then hugged each other.

"Larry, I'm still very sorry!" Lemmy exclaimed.

"Why should you be? If anything, I'm sorry.." Larry replied and then laughed out loud again. They both then sat again in front of the most glorious site before them. Their own army - of chain chomps…their own servants!

"And to think… after we thought she had control over all of them…" Lemmy sighed. Larry nodded. Then after another few minutes of relief, they both sent the chain chomps back to their giant pen and then had taken off to find the others.

* * *

"No way…you lie!" Iggy exclaimed in disbelief when Larry and Lemmy had told them their remarkable story.

"No, we DON'T lie. Both of us were there, Larry was the one who saw EVERYTHING of it!" Lemmy answered. 

"_Larry_ was the one who saw it all? Well in that case, it's DEFINITELY a lie!" Wendy said. Lemmy and Larry shook their heads. Larry then stuck his arm out at Wendy.

"No, Wendy, look! The chain chomps started charging after she grabbed a hold of Lemmy, and then when I tried to run, she grabbed me! And it really hurt!" he said, then rubbing his arm. Wendy shook her head and sighed.

"I STILL think it's a lie," she answered.

"Look, guys. You've got two of your brothers standing here telling you the _same_ story. If Larry was to lie about this one, then we would have had two completely different ones," Lemmy said.

"But Lemmy, you even said you had not seen the whole thing," Iggy added.

"Yeah, but I saw the chain chomps come through that damn wall, didn't I!? And I definitely know about that one because then she tossed us at them!" Lemmy replied.

"Heh, no way… you SO have to be joking," Iggy said, shaking his head and laughing.

"No, I'm NOT joking.." Lemmy assured him.

"That's amazing," Iggy gave in and believed them finally.

"That's stupid," Roy cut in. He then walked up to Lemmy and gave him a shove.

"Honestly, that's just really stupid," he said again. But for some reason he seemed to find it hard to find the words he wanted.

"No, Roy. It's not stupid… it's real. We can defend ourselves finally. And I think it's best that you give the orders to the chain chomps in order to make sure they stay well-trained and ready for attack - you know, seeing as how you're SUCH an expert on that," Lemmy said while rubbing the scratch he had received from Roy earlier. Everyone looked at them with wide eyes, even Roy himself looked completely speechless.

"Um… well, why do _I_ want to order the chain chomps around?" Roy asked. Larry sighed. Lemmy smiled at Roy.

"Well, it is like I said: You like the full-charge attack. So I figured, if you would like to, and whenever we needed it, you could just have those big guys after her.." Lemmy said again. Roy looked at him and shook his head.

"That's…. you know how..?… Really, that is really just.." Roy tried to find nasty things to say about it, but then again, if he did, then he would in a way be insulting himself, and the fact that his older brother thought about him in a kind way rather than in a nasty way like he should have. Honestly, he had tried to beat him up earlier, and now he was flattering him?! Roy looked at all of his siblings. They were all waiting for him to answer, and he knew exactly what answer they wanted - let alone what answer was deserved. He glared at all of them, then sighed, frustrated.

"ALRIGHT, THEN! It's a great idea, okay?! Are ya all happy now?!" he yelled. The rest all smiled and nodded at him.

"So now what do you want to do, Roy?" Lemmy asked him. Roy gave him a confused look.

"What do you mean, what do _I_ want to do?" he asked.

"Well… you have taken on the role of the fearless leader, just like Ludwig had done. I would say that it is your decision as to what to do next, no?" Lemmy said. Roy rolled his eyes.

"Well, I can't manage chain chomps AND manage five other siblings, can I, moron?" he said.

"Then assign Morton to take care of the chain chomps?" Iggy suggested. 

"Heh..no," Roy answered, then he turned back to Lemmy, "besides…it was _your "_GRAND" idea anyway… you should be looking after everyone."

"What are you saying, Roy?" Lemmy asked. Roy glared at him.

"You're gonna take over or what? 'Cause if you want to lose an eye…" he threatened. Lemmy shook his head and laughed.

"No, no. I accept your abdication from sibling leadership. And there-forth you are now head of our army," Lemmy said. Roy had next to no idea what he said, and really he did not care, but he just nodded anyway.

"Yeah, that's right.."

They all laughed and relaxed for the time being. Things finally seemed to be looking up for them.

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Jeshi: XD and after how long I have finally updated it, and…YAH!

Larry: It took you HOW long?

Jeshi: FIRST - English teacher…*shudders* THEN…math teacher…*shudders*…THEN…writer's block @_@…THEN.. Family problems of my own… THEN… yeah O_o no other time XD I was either playing the sims, at work, at school, or with Curtis.

Larry: ^_^ Haha - wait, who's Curtis? O_o

Jeshi: NEVERMIND-EHEHEHE…o_o anyways… yeah, I'll REALLY REALLY **REALLY **try to get the next chapter up, and hopefully in LESS than a month @_@ I can't guarantee anything, but yeah… please bear with me, readers, I am a very busy 15-year old girl and it takes so long to get this all typed out. I am writing all my ideas down on paper at school whenever I get the chance, so it's not like I'm NEVER working on it XD

Larry: You're blabbing again -_-;

Jeshi: @_@ I know. Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter, please review and I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as humanly possible XD

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